19/09/2017
Today is Sart Thai Day
Sart Thai day falls in the middle of the traditional Thai year. It occurs on the fifteenth day of the waning moon of the tenth lunar month (sometime during September).
The word Sart, derived from the Pali language, means season and in particular autumn or fall. Sart Thai day is also referred to as Memorial Day. This is not Memorial Day as Americans might assume. In Thailand, Sart Thai is a time to remember dead relatives with prayers, Buddhist rituals, and merit making on their behalf.
In addition, September crops (including rice) in Thailand are beginning to ripen. As such it marks the start of the harvest (not the end). From a traditional point of view people believed that the first harvest of crops should be offered to the spirits. This was thought to ensure that the harvest would be bountiful and they would avoid starvation.
One of they traditions is the preparation of a sweet dessert called "Krayasart" or "food for the Sart rite". This dessert consists of rice, beans, peanuts, coconut, sesame, and sugar. Lay people would bring "Krayasart" to the Temple to offer to the monks. After the offering, water was poured in dedication to dead ancestors in order to earn merit for them. People believed that the offering of "Krayasart" would mean that their ancestors would have food to eat and that the person would be blessed.
