I'm certainly no expert about the Buddhist religion, but I do find it interesting to talk to different people about it. It can be discouraging though because there are no clear cut answers. If you ask several people the same question, you'll probably get several different answers.
It is sometimes called a Rains Retreat as the monks usually stay in one place during the rainy season. Many of them may dedicate themselves to intense meditation during these months--July through October. In Thailand the laity may often take up monastic vows during this time and then return to a normal life when it ends. I also just read that some monks object to the term Buddhist lent.
We went to a parade marking the beginning of this period. We were just going a few kilometers down the road so I called Ms. Nung about an hour before it started, and she said she would meet us in front of the school. We were just calling to find out where to see it, but she wanted to come with us. Her boys didn't, and they ended up having a blackout at home while were at the parade. We took off and got caught in a traffic jam in this small town's downtown. I'm sure there are lots of people living in this area, but it's not big like our city.
We had to call Ms. Nung several times trying to meet up with her while dodging the parade groups congregating in the middle of the street. At one point the police officers were diverting traffic onto the other side of the divided highway, but Rusty kept going straight. Then the road was totally blocked off by people, and we could do nothing except turn left, but the road to the left was barricaded too! No problem in Thailand. Everyone stared, the policemen moved the barricade, and I felt like waving. We parked down the side street and then realized that we didn't have batteries so I popped into a drug store and bought some. All this time we were supposed to be looking for Ms. Nung, but we never saw her car. Thankfully she came to where we were and then took us in her car. We stopped a little bit out of town and watched the parade from a covered area beside the road...it was actually a roadside food stand. The shelter was appreciated because by this time it was raining.
We watched this parade for three hours. :) We stayed until the end. We were ready for the end.
A lot of the surrounding neighborhoods get together to produce their part of the parade. Many neighborhoods had people walking showing off their coordinated costumes.
This groups shows the varied costumes of Thailand's hill tribe groups. They're always some of my favorite costumes.
Some groups had floats with lots and lots of flowers. I've never been to the Rose Parade or Macy's, but I bet Thailand could have just as elaborate designs.
Several carried banners encouraging people to do good and not to do bad like drink liquor or smoke.
Of course Rusty liked the audio set-ups in the back of the trucks. They had just about everything.
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