Makha Bucha holiday

BANGKOK Makha Bucha, an important religious celebration in the Buddhist calendar, falls on Saturday 11 February, the full-moon day of the third lunar month. Offices, banks and government offices in Thailand close for the substitution holiday on Monday, 13 February.

The religious holiday is designated a public holiday in most Mekong Region countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, where Buddhism holds sway.

This Sunday, Buddhists will attend ceremonies that venerate the Lord Buddha and his teachings. It involves visits to temples to perform merit-making activities in the morning.  In the evening, people join candlelight processions around a temple’s ordination chapel, three times in a clockwise direction.

Each of the three circuits represents one of the three jewels — Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

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