BANGKOK, 11 February 2014 Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsawali yesterday (Feb 10) presided over the opening ceremony of a Buddhism Promotion fair in celebration of the Magha Puja Day on February 14, held at the Sanam Luang ceremonial ground in Bangkok.
The fair is being organized from February 10-14, by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in cooperation with government units and the private sector to celebrate the day the Buddha gave a discourse “Ovadha Patimokha” laying down the principles of his teachings. The fair is also intended to encourage people to accept the Buddhist teachings into their life for their own benefits and the society’s as a whole.
Visitors to the fair will have opportunities to pay homage to a Buddha relic and perform the ‘wien thien’ or walking in circular procession three times around the sacred object. Other activities conducted daily during the 5-day fair are alms giving to monks, mass prayers, sermons by revered Buddhist monks, meditations and religious chanting dedicated to Their Majesties the King and Queen. Several religious organizations also join hands in organizing a series of Buddhist discussions, and the reading of the Tripitaka and other books on Buddhism.
The Magha Puja Day fair is in line with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s policy to promote Bangkok as the metropolis of happiness and to declare Sanam Luang as a Buddhist precinct where people are invited to express themselves as devout Buddhists abstaining from all forms of vices. The BMA also has plans to constantly hold cleaning activities at monasteries and promote people’s participation in other activities useful to the society.
