Vesak in Thailand

How Thailand celebrates

In Thailand, Visakha Bucha is a national public holiday centred on merit-making and the evening wian tian — a candlelit procession three times around the temple's main shrine — alongside almsgiving, sermons and the release of caged birds and fish. Thailand fixes the date by its own lunar calendar: the full moon of the sixth lunar month, or of the seventh in years with an extra eighth month. It usually falls within a day of Sri Lanka's Vesak Poya, though leap months can set them further apart.

What people eat

Vegetarian temple fare and simple merit-making meals; many observe the day abstaining from meat and alcohol.