His Majesty the King assigned Deputy Lord Chamberlain Suphichai Suntharabura to offer royal alms to His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch to celebrate Visakha Bucha Day.
Visakha Bucha Day commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Lord Buddha, and was marked yesterday.
Buddhists in Thailand normally celebrate this important Buddhist public holiday by offering alms to monks in a merit-making ceremony in the morning and attend more rites later in the day.
They include the wian thian ceremony, in which people do three rounds of walking around the temple's ubosot with a lit candle, burning joss sticks with flowers in hand.
Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat, meanwhile, led diplomats from Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Vietnam, Bhutan, Laos and Myanmar to take part in Visakha Bucha Day activities along with Buddhists at Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram in Bangkok.
The diplomats attended prayers and a wian thian rite there.
Other activities held at the temple from last Saturday until yesterday to mark Visakha Bucha week included saraphanya prayers, dhamma preaching contests and dhamma practising.
Elsewhere in the provinces, similar Buddhist activities were held throughout the week from last Saturday until yesterday to mark Visakha Bucha week as Thais from all walks of life came together to celebrate the occasion.
