By Dararai

Yasothon province (531 km northeast of Bangkok) is famous for its Rocket Festival held yearly in May. It also boasts a unique event called "Malai Khao Tok Procession" which is held on a grand scale on Maghapuja Day (the full moon day of the third lunar month= 9 February this year) at Ban Fa Yat village in Mahachanachai County.

Background
According to Buddhist scriptures, on Maghapuja Day, a total of 1,250 disciples of the Buddha from various places spontaneously assembled at Wat Veluvan in Magadha. At this meeting the Buddha delivered an important sermon embodying the fundamental principles and ideals of teaching and ways of practice applicable to all communities.

And according to the local belief, the Lord Buddha came down to earth to give a sermon to his mother on Maghapuja Day. On this joyous occasion, divine beings celebrated the event and worshipped the Buddha by scattering flowers and popped rice (khao tok) down to earth's surface.

About the Malai Khao Tok
Malai Khao Tok refers to a series of strings of beautifully decorated garlands made from the best available popped rice. Generally, the length of each string of garland is 4-6 metres. The popped rice garlands or Malai Khao Tok represent the celestial flowers and are offerings to the Buddha on Maghapuja Day.

The villagers stringing popped rice to make Malai Khao Tok

Popped rice and flowers have been used as offerings to the Buddha statues since ancient time. Originally, both popped rice and flowers were put in a footed tray to be scattered during a preaching time. Later on, popped rice was created into a more beautiful form by stringing the grains into a garland. To make it even more beautiful, plastic flowers and beads are strung into the garland.

Regarding the number of people making garlands, the villagers can either form a group of 4-5 families or just make them within their own family. People begin making Malai Khao Tok after the harvest season (at the end of November) because this is a time-consuming activity requiring fine workmanship.

Close - up picture of Malai Khao Tok

On the merit making day, the Malai Khao Tok Procession will be magnificently decorated and go round the town before stopping at Wat Ho Kong to present all the garlands to the monks there.

Big models like this one adds colour to the processions.

After receiving these garlands, the monks will use them to decorate the sermon hall as a way to pay homage to the Buddha.

The ritual is unique and can only be seen in Mahachanachai County, hence it is a good chance for tourists to join this merit making ceremony.

Folk performances are seen in the processions.

This spectacular procession is regularly held one day before Maghapuja Day. Apart from Malai Khao Tok Procession, there are cultural performances at night and you can also visit other tourist attractions in Yasothon and nearby Si Sa Ket Province.

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• For more information, please contact Tourism Authority of Thailand (Ubon Ratchathani Office) on tel: 4524 3700, 0 4525 0714.
• Special thanks to Tourism Authority of Thailand (Ubon Ratchathani Office) for arranging a trip to Yasothon.

For the correct pronunciation of romanized Thai words, see Romanization System of the Thai Language .