Magha Puja (Sangha Day) · Magha Puja

Culture of origin: Buddhist · Cultural

Holiday sources: Buddhism

Magha Puja remembers the gathering at the Veluvana grove near Rajagaha, about ten months after the Buddha's enlightenment, of 1,250 disciples, all arahants ordained by the Buddha himself, to whom he taught the summary of his teaching called the Ovadapatimokkha. Lay Buddhists visit temples, give alms, meditate and listen to sermons; in Thailand, where King Rama IV first held the ceremony in 1851, temples hold a candlelit procession around the ordination hall in the evening (wian thian).