 This year, the celebration of the annual festival of Rap Bua, which literally means receiving lotuses, is scheduled to be held from 23 to 25 October at the Bang Phli County Administration Office, Samut Prakan province, an hour drive to the south of Bangkok.
Every year, at the end of Buddhist Lent (known in Thai as Ok Phansa), local people will make a replica of Luang Pho To and put it on a boat to be drifted along the Samrong canal, providing a chance for Bang Phli villagers to worship the image. Since lotuses, which are usually used as an offer to the Buddha, are abundant on the canals in the Bang Phli area, people pick the flowers and toss them at the boat carrying the Buddha when the boat pass near them, as a way to pay their homage to the Buddha.
According to a legend about the origin of the tradition, a Buddha statue, later named Luang Pho To, was first found floating down the Chao Phraya River to the mouth of the Samrong canal. Villagers who saw this used a rope to tie the Buddha and pulled it along the canal to the temple of Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai where the Buddha has been placed ever since.
As this event is also attended by visitors, Bang Phli villagers will accommodate their guests by picking lotuses for them hours in advance of their arrival. The guests boats will heave into port late at night, while the passengers are singing, dancing and playing musical instruments. In the morning, the Bang Phli villagers will present the newcomers with lotuses (bua) they have picked and the visitors will receive (rap) them with grateful thanks.
To commemorate the event, besides the traditional ceremony of receiving lotuses and worshipping Luang Pho To, villagers also organise a three-day celebration that begins on the twelfth day of the waxing moon in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar. After offering foods to monks and listening to a sermon, celebrants turn to leisure, and there is no shortage of amusements: phleng rua or traditional singing in boats, folk plays like saba toi and saba bon, beauty contests, traditional water sports, Muay Thai or Thai boxing, boat races featuring dugout boats, ancient boats, a tug-of-war involving boats and a boat decoration competition with prizes awarded for beauty, creativity and humour. A highlight is Muay Thalay, in which two combatants perch on wooden frames erected over the water, trying to knock each other into the water below. The festivities end in the evening with the spectacular ambience of life on the Samrong Canal and the delicious food at Bang Phli ancient market.
For more information, please contact The Tourism Authority of Thailand Central Office: Region 8 on tel: +66 (0) 3731 2282, 3731 2284
|
