There are 5 normal “dry” days in a year. These are days when the bars are not allowed to sell alcohol.

Three are Buddha Days, one is the start of Buddhist Lent, and the last is the King’s Birthday. I’ll tell you a little about them so you know.The 3 Buddha days are notoriously difficult to predict the dates of. They depend on things such as “sightings” and are not strictly predictable to the Western calendar. If you look up the dates on the internet, they frequently vary by a day or two. To be safe for any event, check locally near the time.

Makha Bucha Day or Māgha Pūjā Day (มาฆบูชา in Thai) is an important religious festival celebrated by Buddhists on the full moon day of the third lunar month (this usually falls in February). The third lunar month is known in the Thai language as Makha; Bucha is also a Thai word, meaning “to venerate” or “to honour”. As such, Makha Bucha Day is for the veneration of Buddha and his teachings on the full moon day of the third lunar month. The spiritual aims of the day are: not to commit any kind of sins; do only good; purify one’s mind. Māgha Pūjā is a public holiday in Thailand – and is an occasion when Buddhists tend to go to the temple to perform merit-making activities. In 2012 this will be 7 March.

Visakha Bucha Day

Visakha Bucha Day or Vesākha (วันวิสาขบูชา in Thai) is celebrating the birth, enlightenment (nirvāṇa), and passing away (Parinirvāna) of Gautama Buddha. It is celebrated on the full moon in the middle of the 6th lunar month, normally May. For Thailand, the dates for the next two years are 17 May 2011 and 4 June 2012.

The most significant and main aim of all the activities in Visakabucha is for mind purification hence the Buddhist can live their lives peacefully.

Asalha Puja (known as Asanha Puja or Asarnha Bucha, Thai: อาสาฬหบูชา ) is a Theravada Buddhist festival which typically takes place in July, on the full moon of the eighth lunar month.

The sermon in the deer park

It commemorates the Buddha’s first sermon in the Deer Park in Benares and the founding of the Buddhist sangha. In Thailand, Asalha Puja is a government holiday. The day is observed by donating offerings to temples and listening to sermons. It will be on July 15th 2011 and 2nd August 2012.

The following day is known in Thailand as Wan Kao Pansa; it is the first day of Thai vassa, the Theravada rains retreat or Buddhist Lent. This is also a dry day.

The study of Buddhism is complicated and takes a lifetime (literally). Just a couple of tips and helpful hints for you:

  • Take off your shoes when entering a temple or sacred place.
  • Wear suitable clothing. For men this is usually trousers below the knees (or at least not beach shorts), covered shoulders and no hat.
  • Show respect to the Buddha at all times.
  • If there is carpet on the floor in front of an image of Buddha, do not walk on it. Instead approach on your knees.
  • If you have a Thai with you follow their lead at all times.
  • Do not interrupt a Thai when they are making prayers in front of an image of Buddha, or if they are lighting incense or putting out offerings in front of a bar.

 

The final dry day is the King’s Birthday. This falls on December 5th each year. It is also father’s day.

In addition to these there may be dry days when elections are called. There tend to be two or three days in a row when the bars can not serve alcohol on the weekend before the election (for people to go home to absentee vote) and two days on the weekend of the election making 4 in all. With the election being called for the 3rd July, that gives us possibly 4 or 5 closed days on the weekends of the 24th June and 1st July. More information on this will be posted in headline news when it is known.