Southern culture was on show at the annual tenth lunar month festival, held at Wat Nong Yai in Pattaya from September 13-14 and organized by the Chonburi Southerner Association and the Ministry of Culture.
The traditional festival is influenced by Brahmanism and Buddhist beliefs and is held to express gratitude and obligation through merit making to the spirits of passed away ancestors. It is considered to be a very important ritual to people from the south of Thailand and is usually held in September or October each year.
The event in Pattaya was attended by Wittaya Kunplome, Chief Executive of Chonburi Provincial Administration Organization, who chaired the opening ceremony. The festival included a retro temple fair selling a wide variety of southern food and goods, Manohra dance performances and a memorial parade to honor the spirits of dead relatives and ancestors.
