Sattahip Food Giveaway Helps 3,000 People

August 28, 2012

More than 3,000 people showed up to receive donations of food and products at an annual Sattahip religious ceremony to aid the poor. An event organizer said the huge turnout suggests the Thai economy may be in a recession, with so many people in need.

SATTAHIP – August 27, 2012 [PDN]; a religious ceremony to help the needy was held in Sattahip, led by Mr. Narong Boonbanjerdsri, the lord mayor municipal of Sattahip, in place of the chairman of Sawangrojjanathammasathan Sattahip foundation, Chonburi province.

A committee was formed to conduct the Xi-Gow ceremony to donate consumer products to the poor people and to do the merit for the souls of non-relatives.

More than 2,000 people came to receive donated products like rice and food, Mr. Narong said, far surpassing the turnout in previous years. This may be a signal that the Thai economy is in recession, he said.

“People are in trouble, so they came to receive free food and products,” Mr. Narong said. “We would like the people that received the donated rice and food should together do merit for the non-relative souls for the good fortune in their life, and for the good public mind too.”

The Xi-Gow ceremony is a Chinese tradition held during the annual Chinese festival. The Chinese people like to do merit for non-relative souls, which is often held in a funeral ceremony, or a birthday party, and during the Chinese festival in the seventh month, as well as other festivals.

The Tao religion has also adopted this tradition from Buddhism, and the ceremony is also conducted in Japan and Korea, too. For the Chinese people, on the day of the ritual, they will invite the monks to pray to do merit for the soul. For Chinese people who live too far away to invite the monks, they still perform the ritual by offering food for the ancestors and non-related souls.