Māgha Pūjā
| Māgha Pūjā Day / Makha Bucha Day | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Observed by | Thai, Lao, and Cambodian Buddhists. |
| Type | Buddhist |
| 2024 date | |
Māgha Pūjā or Makha Bucha (Lao: ມະຄະບູຊາ; Thai: มาฆบูชา) is an important religious festival celebrated by Buddhists in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos on the full moon day of the third lunar month (this usually falls in February). The full moon of the third lunar month, a month known in the Thai language as Makha (Pali: Māgha). Bucha, also a Thai word (Pali: Pūjā), meaning to venerate or to honor. As such, Makha Bucha Day is for the veneration of Buddha and his teachings on the full moon day of the third lunar month.
Māgha Pūjā is a public holiday in Thailand and Laos - and is an occasion when Buddhists tend to go to the temple to perform merit-making activities.
Origin of Māgha Pūjā Day
Māgha Pūjā day marks the four auspicious occasions, which happened nine months after the Enlightenment of the Lord Buddha at Veḷuvana Bamboo Grove, near Rājagaha in Northern India. On that occasion, as recorded in the commentary to the Mahāsamayasutta, DN 20) four marvellous events occured:
- 1,250 enlightened disciples of the Buddha spontaneously gathered
- every one of those enlightened disciples had been given monastic ordination personally by the Lord Buddha
- those disciples knew to meet together without any previous appointment
- it was the full-moon day.
The Lord Buddha gave an important teaching to the assembled monks on that day 2,500 years ago called the 'Ovādapātimokkha'[1] which laid down the principles of the Buddhist teachings. In Thailand, this teaching has been dubbed the 'Heart of Buddhism'.
Celebration of Magha Puja Day
In the evening, each temple in Thailand holds a candle light procession called a wian tian (wian meaning circle; tian meaning candle). Holding flowers, incense and a lighted candle, the monks and congregation members circumambulate clockwise three times around the main chapel or pagoda in the temple - once for each of the Three Jewels – the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
References
- ^ D.ii.49, Dh.183
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