Visakha Bucha is the holiest day on the Buddhist calender - celebrating the birth, enlightenment, and entry into nirvana of the Buddha. A big day, indeed.
So we decided to celebrate in high style. We swung by a family that Fee has been working with, picked up Wandii, and rode three on the motorbike to their neighborhood wat (which now takes some u-turns and underpass action to negotiate the new ring-road that was built between their house and the temple).
Wandii lives with her older sister's family, and they care for their mother who has been lying in a coma for 2 years. Wandii is always full of energy, and this carried over to the temple celebration.
We did it all - made flower offerings, sat, chanted (always fun), joined the wiang thian - three ceremonial clockwise laps around the ancient chedi, bathed the chedi with fragrant water (aided by a clever system of pulleys), fished for prizes (we won a roll of toilet paper), and shot pop guns (winning two bottles of orange drink - still in our fridge).
The combination of candles and stand-alone flourescent tubes made for some magical lighting, with the full moon rounding out the effect. And we learned, again, that carrying incense and candles in clasped palm during the wiang thian is not without the small perils of hot wax on the feet and hands. A good reminder that life is suffering :)
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