Nye

Kathin Ceremony at Wat Greensboro

Aperture Priority, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 800, exposure bias -1step, focal length 80mm, pattern metering

After the three-month rains retreat most Buddhist temple held a Kathin Ceremony also known as Thot Kathin where people have a grand festival of offering of gifts, food and yellow ropes to the monks.  It was sad to hear that some temple in Cambodia didn’t have a Kathin ceremony due to the readiness of the people. Kathin Ceremony is a big event and held once a year.

Aperture Priority, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, f/4, 1/100, ISO 2000, exposure bias +0.3step, focal length 70mm, pattern metering

We had a good turnout this year, but not as many as the previous years.

Aperture Priority, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, f/4, 1/200, ISO 1600, exposure bias -0.3step, focal length 105mm, pattern metering

There was a Thon Kathin and several  Thon Phapa, the money trees that the Buddhist worshippers joined in and hung their monies to be donated to the temple as part of the Kathin offering.

Aperture Priority, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, f/4, 1/100, ISO 100, exposure bias 0step, focal length 84mm, pattern metering
Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 1000, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 154mm, pattern metering

There were 9 monk’s bowls at Almsgiving,.

Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 118mm, pattern metering
Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 81mm, pattern metering
Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 75mm, pattern metering

We only had 2 monks that Kao Punsa, and stayed at the temple during the three-month rains retreat but needed at least 5 monks to have a Kathin Ceremony.  Like most Buddhist Wat here in the US, our temple invited monks from nearby temples and below was one of the monks that were invited for the Kathin Ceremony.

Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 200mm, pattern metering

The parade for Hare Kathin Samakee where the Buddhist worshipers brought gifts, food, and yellow ropes to the monks.

Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/500sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 70mm, pattern metering

We paraded around the temple ground.

Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/400sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias -0.7step, focal length 70mm, pattern metering

My dad offered a yellow rope for the monk.

Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/1000sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 149mm, pattern metering
Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 200mm, pattern metering
Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/4, 1/640sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias -0.7step, focal length 126mm, pattern metering
Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/11, 1/60sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 70mm, pattern metering

The ceremony is very festive and this might be an announcement that more festive ceremony is to come, as it is now considered auspicious to have weddings and house warming.

Aperture Priority, EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens, f/11, 1/100sec, ISO 100, Exposure bias 0step, focal length 131mm, pattern metering

A Cambodian artist, Bo spoke to him and I will find out his name and link to his site and the price of his artwork is reasonable. His name is Soknang Chea who is the owner of S&C Art Gallery. He describes himself as a realistic artist developing to modern style, please check out his online art gallery for a beautiful collection of artwork.

Aperture Priority, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, f/4, 1/100, ISO 320, exposure bias 0step, focal length 67mm, pattern metering

13 comments

    • seeharhed, we only had a few from Hickory that attended since it’s almost 1 hour and 20 minutes drive. I think I still have more photos of the autumn leaves that I could post.

  2. Great pics and commentary, Nye.

    Aon took Jeremy Aaron and Bia to our temple in Paksong.

    It is really amazing to see Lao Heritage kept alive in America. Thanks so much for sharing.

    • Hi Jeffrey, thanks. The tradition is still there if you want to be a part of it and I’m glad that we had a good turnout during this slumping economy. I believe the Buddhist community needs the temple as much as the temple needs support from the community.

  3. Nye – Great photos. It looks like there was a great turnout during a beautiful Fall day.

    (Long time reader from back when LaoVoices was interactive; first time commenter.)

    • Hi SJ, I remember you when I was blogging at LV, it’s good to hear from you again. 🙂

      It’s a small community and I’m glad that nice weather brought out more people.

      • I miss the LV days. You were a huge contributor so I’m still learning like I did during the LV days though. I loved your posts about your recent trip back to Laos.

        That small community is pretty big from my perspective, but looking back at your photos from last year the turnout wasn’t as large.

        • SJ, LV takes a different direction now but I’m glad that I had a chance to blog there and have met many nice people while blogging there.

          I think the temple knew that there wouldn’t be a big turnout like last year and I kind of expected this from the economy, most people are more thrifty these days. I do wish that we live closer to the temple and could visit more often.

  4. Hi Nye,
    You’ve captured a nice photo journal of the occasion. I especially like the beautiful fall leaves and the almost matching color of the bright banners flying in the wind.

    And Soknang Chea’s artwork look neat, I’ll have to check out the website later. Thanks for sharing.

    • Cambree, I forgot the proper name for the banner but they’re the Buddhist flags. I’m glad that I get to see the beautiful fall leaves here, our area doesn’t look as pretty and most turned brown instead of yellowish orange like what we see here.

      I think Soknang Chea’s art collection are not all his, from the pamphlet that Bo got from him there are artists from Siem Reap, Cambodia as well and they are very talented from seeing the closeup image of the artwork.

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