| In the
third lunar month, Bun Khaochi ([5og0qhk9uj--the offering of roasted glutinous rice to monks). This
ceremony had an origin in a story. Maha Sila Viravongs told the story of a rich
man's servant who tried to prepare some food to eat while she went to fetch some drinking
water. She spent the entire night pounding rice chaff from the grains. Then,
she tried to roll the cooked sticky rice into lumps to make it convenient for carrying.
While she was rolling the rice, it was sticky. So, she spread the rice bran
around the sticky rice. Then, she roast the sticky rice wrapped in rice bran.
The next day, she wrapped the roasted sticky rice in the waist band of her skirt
and went out fetching water. On her way, she met with the Buddha and felt moved to
offer something to the Buddha, but she did not have anything except the lowly roasted
sticky rice. She offered a lump of roasted rice, but she was feeling ashamed of
herself. The Buddha understood her thought. So, he stopped and ate the roasted
rice. The servant girl was overwhelmed with joy. Thus, Buddhists offer roasted
sticky rice to the monks in the third lunar month. |
