Asarnha bucha, which this year falls on July 11, is celebrated country-wide by making merit, listening to sermons and joining candlelit processions in the evening. The day following Asarnha Bucha Day is called Khao Phansa Day.
Sacred sermon
Asarn means eight, while Bucha means worship. Asarnha Bucha Day is celebrated on the full moon of the eighth lunar month every year to mark the first sermon that Lord Buddha gave to his first five disciples, namely Phra Gonthanya, Phra Wappa, Phra Phattiya, Phra Mahanama and Phra Assachi. The sermon took place in Varanasi, India.
The Lord Buddha’s first sermon as mainly about the Four Noble Truths, which include tuk (suffering), samuthai (the cause of suffering), nirot (the cessation of suffering) and mak (the path to the cessation of suffering).