Sart Thai Festival in Phetchabun
The bathing of the Sacred Buddha.
As part of the nationwide Sart Thai Festival, the residents of Phetchabun province hold their Um Phra Dam Nam Festival, which is accompanied by a beautiful procession of the sacred Phra Buddha Maha Thammaracha image, which they carry around the City.

The local governor of Phetchabun province, in a sacred and holy ritual, then dives into the river with the Buddha statue in his arms in the belief that this act brings happiness and fertility to the province.

The Phra Buddha Maha Thammaracha statue is then taken to the City Hall where all Thai people and the community residents have an opportunity to pour lustral water over the sacred Buddha image in an act of reverence and to make merit.

Origin of the Sart Thai festival:

The Sart Thai Festival is a sort of Memorial Day in Thailand, it's a day to remember the dead with prayers, merged with Buddhist rituals and merit making.

Thai Buddhists see death as a part of the cycle of life and there is a unity between life and death. The Thai people believe that it's due to their ancestors that they are who they are today. Therefore the Thais pay their ancestors special respect on the day of the .Sart Thai festival.

In Thailand, Sart Thai marks a very special occasion when the living have the opportunity to show respect for their deceased relatives by making merit for them on Sart Day.

Sart Thai is a Buddhist festival that is maybe not as important in Thailand as other religious festivals, but it is still observed everywhere in Thailand and in many Thai temples abroad. The procedure consists out of a religious Buddhist ceremony with special prayers for the deceased and merit making.

Some local communities in Thailand, such as the city of Nakhon Nayok, celebrate Sart Thai with annual longboat or long tailed boat races and other festivities such as entertainment fairs, Thai dance, food fairs and lots of Thai music.

The word Sart is derived from the Indian word meaning autumn or the fall of the season. Normally, the Sart Thai festival falls on the end of the tenth lunar month, usually some time during September.

The Sart Thai festival was originally a Brahministic festival but now it is celebrated in the Thai temples and Buddhist wats with the Thai monks making the merit ceremony.

A specialty during the Sart Thai festival is Krayasart which is a sweet dessert, prepared from rice, peanuts, sesame seeds and sugar or honey. All those ingredients are boiled into a sticky paste and then wrapped in banana leaf. Every family in Thailand used to prepare their own Krayasart in the past, but now krayasart is available in most Thai markets and supermarkets.

Usually, on this day, Thai people offer Krayasart to the monks in the temple and also offer the sweet to their relatives, friends, and neighbors as a sign of respect.

More Info
TAT Northern Office - Region 3
E-mail : tatphs@loxinfo.co.th
Phone : +66 055 252742 and +66 055 252743
Fax : +66 055 252472