Wisakha Puja Day is the most sacred occasion for the whole Buddhist world. It marks three important events in the life of Gotama Buddha's life. The three are his birth, enlightenment and his passing into Parinibbana. These events all took place on the full moon of the sixth lunar month.

During May, students from our school and all over Samut Prakan City came together to take part in a special ceremony at Wat Nok (Wat Phichai Songkram). The photographs above show a Buddha image and some monks representing all of the temple in Samut Prakarn City.

The head monk lead everyone in chanting from the Buddhist scriptures. The students on the left are holding a lotus flower, a candle and three incense sticks between their palms as they chant. On the right, the young novice monks are lighting their candles and incense sticks before they take part in wien tien around the bot.

This is the main bot at Wat Nok. It is believed to be more than 250 years old. Whenever there are any religious festivals many local people come to this temple to take part in wien tien. This usually takes place in the early evening when people circle the bot three times in a clockwise direction.

After the monks had completed wien tien, they entered the bot to take part in some more chanting in front of the main Buddha images for this temple.