Khao Phansa falls on the following day and is when monks traditionally began a three-month period of confinement to their temples. Although monks have long given up the practice of staying in their temples for the duration of Lent, the practice of not drinking alcohol is enforced for the two festival days.
In previous years, the government has allowed the sale and consumption of beer, wine and spirits in hotels and at airports. This year, police will be obeying an edict issued by prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in February stating that there would be a blanket prohibition on the sale of sale of alcohol on Buddhist holy days.
On Phuket Island, police commander Pachara Boonyasit confirmed the general’s ban and said that this year hotels would not be selling alcoholic beverages. He noted that the only place tourists would be able to buy alcohol on 30 and 31 July was at Phuket Airport’s airside duty-free outlets.
Thailand celebrates the onset of Buddhist Lent
News in Asia
Buddhists throughout Thailand made their way to local temples this morning to offer food donations to monks to mark the onset of the Buddhist period of Lent. Today is known as Asarnha Bucha and when Buddhists start their period of abstinence from the likes of alcohol and other worldly vices.