The Festival of Floral Offerings, known in Thai as Tak Bat Bokmai. Takes place at the beginning of Buddhist Lent (July) each year at Wat Phra Phutthabat, the Shrine of the Holy Foot print, in Phra Phutthabat District of Saraburi Province. The festival has been passed on from generation to generation and it reflects Thai Buddhists' faith in Buddhism.
This impressive merit making ceremony begins in the early morning of the first day of Buddhist Lent, when people gather at Wat Phra Phutthabat to offer alms to monks. Later in the morning, Phra Phutthabat residents go out to collect a special kind of flower; called Dok Khao-Phansa, literally meaning "Buddhist Lent Flower". They keep these flowers to offer to monks in the afternoon.
Dok Khao Phansa is in the same family as ginger and galingale and it looks like galingale or turmeric. This flower is yellow-purple, white and blue. It is found only in Saraburi Province in Central Thailand. Dok Khao Phansa is in bloom during the Buddhist Len Festival, so it is called Buddhist Lent Flower.
Before leaving their homes to collect Dok Khao-Phansa, the villagers sing and dance together with joy. Young men and women take this opportunity to court. Since the Buddhist Lent Flower is hard to find these days, any kind of flower is accepted at the ceremony.
When the flora merit-making ceremony arrives, the two sides of the road in front of Wat Phra Phutthabat become crowded with worshipers. They carry trays of floral offerings as they wait for monks. A parade of long drums leads the long procession of monks. Buddhists waiting to offer flowers to the monks stand in two rows towards the foot of the Naga stairs, which lead to the mondop of Wat Phra Phutthabat to the north. After receiving the floral offerings, the monks and novices ascend to the mondop. Then, worshipers move to the foot of the Naga stairs to the south, waiting to pour water onto the feet of the monks and novices, as they walk down to the passageway. This practice is believed to wash away the sins of worshipers.
Monks and novices present floral offerings received from the people to worship the holy Footprint. They enter the ubosot (main chapel) after worshipers pour water with small flowers onto their feet. At the ubosot, they perform the ceremony of Khao Phansa (Buddhist Lent), marking the commencement of the annual three-month Buddhist Rains Retreat.
