Sawang Boriboon President
Visith Chaowalitnittithum (2nd right) and Prasith Thongthicharoen,
president of the Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan relief team (2nd left),
along with the organizing committee announce this year’s Vegetarian
Festival.
Warunya Thongrod and Phasakorn Channgam
The Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan Foundation is spicing up its annual
Vegetarian Festival, adding international dishes to complement
traditional pan-friend noodles and moving a related event in deference
to neighbors.
This year’s Pattaya Festival will run Oct. 4-14 as usual at the Sawang
Boriboon headquarters in Naklua. But its “Pai Hor Hia Teeh” ceremony to
make merit for people who died without living relatives to bury them
will move to the Naklua Forest after years of complaints from residents
about the smoke and traffic caused.
The festival’s opening ceremony, however, remains unchanged from
previous years.
A dual-pronged “Kiew Aung Huk Jow” and “Bhodistava”
parade kicks off at 12:19 p.m. Oct. 4 at Bali Hai Pier and runs up
Walking Street. The parade group then splits, with half following Beach
Road to Central Road and turning right. The second branch travels along
Second Road, stopping at Mike Shopping Mall for a dragon show, then
meeting the first group at Central Road.
Reunited, the groups move to Third Road and the local TOT Public Co.
office where marchers will board buses for Sawang Fah Pritaram Temple
where the parade will again set off past Naklua Market, Lan Po Park and
finish at the Sawang Boriboon vegetarian hall for ceremonies honoring
Chinese gods.
Beach Road will be closed to traffic from 12:30-3 p.m. and Second Road
will have one lane removed.
Services, as usual, will be followed by food, a communal meal for 5,000
attendees called “Khao Phad Thip Paed Sien Hongtae” fried up in a giant
pan. The dish contains specially ordered Kiam Le drops as well as ginkgo
and cashew nuts, bell peppers, shiitake mushrooms, dried bean curd and
vegetarian seasoning. It will be served with 5,000 peaches.
This year, however, the Eastern Chefs Association will contribute top
cooks from 50 area hotels to prepare a menu of international dishes to
complement the traditional Chinese noodle dish.
The other change from previous years will see the
location for the October 12 ceremony for dead without relatives. Sawang
Boriboon President Visith Chaowalitnittithum said smoke, ash and bits of
paper from burning offerings in the “Phukhao Ngern Phukhao Thong” (“gold
and silver mountain”) consistently blew across neighbors’ yards. Combine
that will hellacious parking and long lines and the backlash grew to the
point the foundation had to move the ceremony out of the residential
neighborhood.
“We decided to move the venue to Naklua Forest, which is far away from
the community and is spacious,” Visith said. In addition, he said, the
“mountain” furnace will be shrunk by 20 percent to ease transportation
and reduce waste.
