Thailand lottery winner thanks Buddha with 100 pig’s heads

A Thai lottery winner today laid out 100 pig’s heads in front of the famous 30-metre-tall Buddha statue at Wat Klang Bang Phra Temple in Nakhon Pathom province in central Thailand.

The lucky winner, Panu Nawisamphan from Samut Prakan province, did not reveal how much money he won in the government lottery. Panu said his offering of 100 pig’s heads was to gae bon “แก้บน,” which means “fulfil one’s vow.”

Before the lottery numbers were drawn, Panu went to the famous Buddha statue at Wat Klang Bang Phra, which is named Luang Phor Som Wang (“Father wish granter.”) The statue is famous for making the wishes of Buddhists come true.

Panu asked Luang Phor Som Wang for two things – for sales of his business to increase as well as to win the lottery. He vowed to the Buddha that if his wishes were fulfilled, he would offer 100 pig’s heads to the Buddha statue.

Not only is Panu’s business thriving, but he won the lottery, so today he fulfilled his vow – filling the entire temple courtyard up with dead pigs, nine garlands of flowers and a box of 10,000 firecrackers. Panu had a Brahmin perform a ceremony, lighting incense on every single pig’s head.

Once the ceremony was complete, the abbot of the temple, Phra Khru Sri Sutakorn, sprinkled holy water on the pig’s heads and temple goers, creating an “auspicious” and “light-hearted” atmosphere for merit-makers, reports KhaoSod.

The lottery winner lit the 10,000 firecrackers, and once the show was over, the firecrackers’ “tail” revealed the numbers 92 and 836, which Panu believes will be the winning numbers in the next government lottery draw.

If he wins again, Panu said he will gae bon by bringing rice, chicken eggs and yet more pig’s heads to Wat Klang Bang Phra Temple.

In the latest lottery draw, a Thai woman who sells eggs at the market for a living won the lottery’s first prize of six million baht. However, it still wasn’t enough to pay off her 10 million baht debt.