Phuket’s Nepalese community commemorate the Buddha’s birthday
Buddha’s Birthday celebrations vary from place to place according to the different schools of the faith that have developed over the years, but regardless, the birthday of Lord Buddha remains one of the largest Buddhist festivals wherever and whenever it’s celebrated.
In Nepal, Myanmar and India the Buddha’s birthday is being celebrated today. In Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong, the special day will be celebrated near the end of May. This situation, with the different dates, only happens once every 12 years.
Buddha was born in Lumbini in Nepal so for the Nepali community the day is one of biggest holidays of the year.
In Phuket, the Nepalese community is very active and had a special morning of activities and commemorations for the special day. The numbers of Nepalese are believed to be around 2,000 people who work and live on the island. The community have established a temple and school in Patong and has become a focus for the busy community.
Today’s festivities cap off a big summer holiday for the local Nepalese community after they ran their own summer school activities for children of the Nepali that work on the island. Most of the children have grown up in Phuket and speak Thai and English but their parents were keen for their children to learn the ‘mother tongue’ from Nepal as well. Nepalese, like other south east asian languages, including Thai, has its roots in the ancient language Sanskrit.
The students attended Nepali lessons each day for the local summer holiday break.
PHOTOS: Bishal Tamrakar
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