End of Buddhist Lent the perfect time to visit a temple

When the three months of Buddhist Lent come to an end in October, villagers across the country return to temples and celebrate the end of the rainy season.
Lent began in July and ended on Monday this week, celebrated with the colourful Ork Phansa festival, when rivers are illuminated by lighted boats that glow brightly in the darkness. Temples and houses are also adorned with fluttering candles.

People enjoy participating in the traditional lamp lighting at a temple in Luang Prabang province. --Photo Vientiane Times

During Lent, monks stay in one temple and refrain from travelling for the traditional three months of the rainy season unless it is essential, but even so they must first get permission.
This is a time when monks and novices focus on the scriptures. They wake up early for prayers at 4am, meditate for longer, and gain a deeper insight into the teachings of the Buddha
After Ork Phansa, monks may again leave their temples and travel, when they spend time in local communities preaching to villagers or visiting other temples.
On the day of Ork Phamsa, people get up early in the morning to go to their local temple and offer gifts to the monks.
As every year, the end of Lent falls on the full moon day of the 11th lunar month and on this auspicious occasion people line up at temples to make merit through early morning almsgiving.
In the evening, some temples hold candlelight processions, and people flock to riverbanks to set afloat dainty banana leaf boats containing flowers, lighted candles and incense and sometimes a piece of food, which drift downstream.
People delight in the spectacle of lighted boats both large and small and pay homage to the river gods, following in the footsteps of their forebears.
At some temples, monks make a model boat on which people place lighted candles, incense sticks or flowers, which usually follows a candlelight procession around the main temple building.
The faithful believe that the little boats they set bobbing downstream will carry away bad luck and bring a new start in life, warding off illness and misfortune.
People pray for good luck, health, happiness and success and hope the bad luck will vanish from their lives.
Some people use this occasion to reflect on the merits of their parents and the teachings of the monks, and pray that they will prosper and their lives will brighten like the candles on the boats.
An official from the Tourism Maketing Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Miss Soudaly Sisouvong, told the Vientiane Times she usually places a candlelit banana leaf boat on the Mekong in the hope that it will bring her good luck.
“I go to the river at about 9pm when it’s not too crowded and I think my wishes will not be dissipated. I place some of my nail clippings on the boat to carry away my bad luck and enable good fortune to enter my life,” she said.
Eventually, some of these little craft will be burnt so they are disposed of and do not pollute the river.
People who don’t live near a river make small boats from flowers and banana leaves or simply place lighted candles around their houses, which turns the normally dark night into a magical sight.
There is a belief that if someone finds their boat along the river the next morning that person will be lucky and the boat will bring good fortune.
The celebrations are traditional and vary only slightly from place to place depending on the customs of each province, area or community.
Both monks and ordinary people look forward to the end of Lent as it heralds several religious activities, festivals and social events.
People can now organise weddings and parties, from which they have largely abstained during Lent.
Monks enjoy being able to go from place to place once again, leading people in religious activities or preaching in communities where no monks live nearby.
In Vientiane, the boat racing festival follows on Tuesday and is a joyful occasion when crews take to the river in traditional wooden longboats to take part in a sport that represents friendship and unity.

People give alms in a temple in Vientiane during the end of Buddhist Lent.  --Photo Sangkhomxay	Large lighted boats grace the Mekong in Vientiane on the night. (File photo Vientiane Times)

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
 (Latest Update October 11, 2022)