IMAGE: LUKE DUGGLEBY - REDUX
FAHTHAI
23
STOPOVER
highlights
Magha
Puja Day
The most important
religious festival in Thailand
takes place in February
A day set aside to venerate
The Buddha and celebrate
his teachings, Magha Puja
Day – which falls on 14
February this year – is the
most significant event on
the Buddhist calendar in
Thailand. Both a religious
festival and a national
holiday, Magha Puja
is held on a full-moon
day, when Buddhists are
urged to “do only good
and purify the mind”.
Millions of believers in
Thailand, Cambodia and
Laos head to temples
on this day to carry out
various religious activities,
such as joining candlelit
processions (which move
in a clockwise direction),
listening to sermons and
taking part in a variety of
other observances.
According to tradition,
the event marks a night
shortly before the end of
The Buddha’s mortal life,
when he delivered his final
teachings and achieved
Nirvana or
Parinibbhana
.
By performing “merit-
making deeds” on Magha
Puja Day, a Buddhist can
build up goodness in his
soul while honouring
The Enlightened One
and keeping to the main
precepts of Buddhism.
Check out our destination guide
on page 85 and book your
flights at bangkokair.com
B I G G E R P I C T U R E
