Festivals & Events, Northern Thailand, Thailand Calendar of EventsA Celebration of Chiang Mai City Pillar – Inthakhin Ceremony 2009
|
A Celebration of Chiang Mai City Pillar – Inthakhin Ceremony 2009 |
||
| Festivals & Events, Northern Thailand, Thailand Calendar of Events 1 Comment |
| May 20, 2009 | to | May 27, 2009 |
The annual Chiang Mai City Pillar Ceremony, or Inthakhin Ceremony, will take place this year from May 20-27, 2009 at Wat Chedi Luang in the center of the old city.
Chiang Mai annually celebrates Inthakhin for seven auspicious days starting from the 12th night of waning moon in the 8th lunar month, which usually falls during May or June. It is believed that the ceremony will bring good blessings to both participants and Chiang Mai City, and that the rains will fall in to bring a bountiful harvest.
On the first day of the festival, a Buddha image of Phra Chao Fon Saen Ha will be paraded around Chiang Mai city while locals wait along the street side to sprinkle blessed water (Nam Som Poi) to the statue. When the Buddha image returns to Chedi Luang temple, a ritual of flower offerings begins. People in Chiang Mai know Inthakhin ceremony as Tam Boon Khan Dok or Sai Khan Dok. The ceremony name is derived from the ritual of making merit to the city pillar by offering flowers, incense and candles to 32 trays that lay around a Vihara of Inthakhin.
Apart from offering flowers to the thirty-two trays, making merit by donating money to your own Buddha image (based on day of birth) is also believed to bring good luck to the donor. Plus there are evening traditional events featured every night within the temple, including traditional performances of sword dancing and lance dancing. Visitors will also enjoy listening to local Northern Thailand traditional music. The ceremony ends on the seventh day with closing chants from 108 monks gathered at Wat Chedi Luang.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:51 pm
[...] Read more of this article. This article is written by Som. [...]