Boon Phawate was a very nicely put together festival in Roi-et city Thailand. My only regret is that I missed most of the early morning parade on Saturday, 5 March. Still nice and the people of Roi-et did a great job putting on this festival.
Boon Phawate Festival Parade Kids
Boon Phawate was first held in 1991, it has been held every year around early March since. In 2011, the festival was held from 4-6 March. The holiday takes place at the Somdech Phra Srinakarindra Park and Bueng Phalan Chai. Bun Phawet, or known in the Central Region as Bun Mahachat, is usually held in the 4th lunar month. It is a Buddhist ceremony in which the monks give a discourse of all chapters of the Vessantara Jataka, otherwise called the Great Birth Sermon. There are also 13 parades of Phawet, according to the amount of the chapters of the discourse, arranged by disparate public and private organizations. The area around Bueng Phalan Chai has stalls providing free ‘Khao Pun’ – rice noodle – for participants. But, alas, we arrived too late and all the free Khao Pun had already been eaten.
Boon Phawate Festival Parade Dancers
I just wish that someone in Thailand would do something to standardize the spelling of events and places. I have seen about 10 different variations on Boon Phawate – Boon Phawade, Bun Phawate, Bun Phawade, and so on. This is done for cities and streets and make it very confusing for those of us that don’t read the Thai language.
Boon Phawate Festival Parade Elephant
I give these folks credit. It was close to noon when I shot the video and my bother-in-law took the photos for me. These folks must have been up at about 0400 and at the staging area by 0800. Plus getting dressed in traditional Thai outfits with all of the make-up on a very hot day, must have been a real sacrifice.
Boon Phawate Festival Parade Float Dancers
I plan on attending Boon Phawate again next year and will definitely get there earlier – maybe even the night before and spend the night at my brother-in-law’s house. I would like to be there for some of the night time entertainment too.
Next up will be some information about the very nice park and man-made lake – Beung Phalan Chai where we went to after the parade.
And here is a short video of the Boon Phawate Festival Parade in Roi-et Thailand
Too bad the Main Office at the Tourism Authority of Thailand chose not to mention this as they are too busy posting photos of somtam.
1 Comments
I luv a parade sorry i missed it