Date: 13-18 April 2014
Venue: Wat Wang Wiwekaram (Wat Luangpho Uttama), Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi

“The Bridge of Hope, monks walk on people’s backs – Songkran festival in Sangkhlaburi.”

The highlight here is the ‘Mon’ (a group of Burmese-Thai) tradition of celebrating Songkran. The Mon will carry food on their head to serve to the monks. And more interestingly, there is the Mon ceremony of purifying Buddha statues through bamboo pipes that can be kilometers in length.

During the auspicious day, men will voluntarily lay down on the street to make a human bridge for monks to walk upon to the purifying area and after finishing the ceremony, the men will carry the monks to their huts.

Main Activities:

• Mon’s traditional ceremony; such as, learning about the ‘Mo Mongkhon’ ritual, observing religious precepts, giving an evening bath to elders, and bringing sand into temples to build the Mon’s sand pagoda.
• Watch a Buddha statue purifying ceremony through bamboo pipes, watch the monks walk on people’s back parade
• Join a parade offering off-season Buddhist robes to monks, installation of a parasol on the sand pagoda, and pour ceremonial water to send merit to ones that have passed away

For more information, contact:
Secretary of the Nong Lu Cultural Council
Tel: +66 (0) 89 092 5140 or +66 (0) 89 515 2398

Wang Ka Municipality
Tel: +66 (0) 3459 5093

Tourism Authority of Thailand, Kanchanaburi Office
Tel: +66 (0) 3451 1200 or +66 (0) 3451 2500