Today, Wednesday, is Makha Bucha Day! Even though I was here for the holiday last year, I have no idea what Makha Bucha Day is other than its a public holiday so there was no school today! Lets take a look at wikipedia to answer the question "What is Makha Bucka Day?!"
My summary from Wikipedia: The third lunar month is known in the Thai language as Makha and Bucha means "to venerate" or "to honor", so the holiday is a day 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.
The evening of Makha Bucha Day, Buddhists go to the temple to perform merit-making activities. Holding flowers, incense and a lighted candle, the monks and congregation members circle clockwise three times around the temple, once for each of the Three Jewels – the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
Don't even THINK about poking fun at my teacher voice, I also use this voice with Thai people without even realizing it, its become second nature and primarily the way I communicate to others. I'm going to work really hard to leave it behind in Thailand.. I have a huge fear I'm going to go to PF Changs and find myself trying to order lo mein noodles in my simple English Teacher Chelsea voice. Nightmare!
On Tuesday, my class piled*** into the school van for a field trip to the temple for Makha Bucha Day! The kids were ready with their gifts to give the monks.. snacks, milk, flowers, candles, incense, and they were SO excited to be going to pay respect. To be honest, I was in the dark most of the time (what else is new, I'm used to being clueless now) about what the heck was going on, what they were doing, and what everything meant. I just followed the kids lead, observed the prayer and was blown away at how my rowdy kids could sit so nicely and chant along with the monk! We then circled the temple in the heat and warm tiled floor three times before the kids payed respect by presenting their flowers and candles to the monk.
***When I say "piled into the school van", I mean we literally crammed all 26 of my kids in the van as it acts as our school bus. All 26 kids and 2 teachers in an average sized van, not a single one of us wearing a seat belt. Kids sitting on kids, 5 to a bench seat.. safety hazard? This is Thailand.
How many kids can we fit into one school van? This doesn't include the two that sat up front with me!
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| First aid kit for the Monk |
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