Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) reports that the Boun Phavet Sandon Festival, also known as the Mahachat Festival, is an annual Buddhist festival in Laos, celebrated according to twelve and fourteen local traditions. Lao Buddhists hold celebrations in various villages each year to commemorate the Buddha's birth, with "Boun Phavet Sandon" corresponding to the Buddha's last incarnation (Huat Santra).
According to the *Hit 12 Kor 14 Lao Traditions* and the Malay text *Mun Malai Sen*, the festival originates from a story about the Buddha: the Buddha visited Thatket Keo Chunlamani at Vaput and met Ariyamettray. During the festival, the essentials of spiritual practice and attaining Buddhahood are discussed, with the core being adherence to precepts and refraining from evil deeds. Monks are invited to recite the thirteen chapters of the Santasadak teachings, which devotees listen to and practice together. Lao villagers have also continued this tradition, gathering to celebrate Buddha-related events.
The story of "Pavisandon," recorded in the thirteenth volume of the scriptures, recounts the Buddha's journey to various countries before his incarnation as Pavisandon, where he performed acts of charity, sacrifices, and accumulated merit. The Pavisandon Festival in Boeung typically lasts three days and three nights, with a rigorous and highly traditional ceremony. On the first day of the festival, devotees erect a bamboo honeycomb-shaped altar in a spacious hall (also known as the "West Gate") for listening to the Dharma. Some temples do not use a honeycomb altar, instead using a regular hall as the place where the Buddha preached. The altar is decorated with bamboo pillars and banana stems, and offerings such as calamus and cattails are placed around it. That evening, an ordination ceremony was held, with devotees reciting the *Bodhisattva Sutra* and its final chapter, expressing gratitude for the glorious merits accomplished by Phra Visangton.
The following morning, around 3 a.m., a three-circle rice cake offering ceremony was held. Rice cakes are a general term for offerings made by villagers to monks. After the offering ceremony, a series of 10,000 Dharma talks were conducted, followed by 13 Mahayana Dharma assemblies held throughout the day. These 13 assemblies covered numerous Buddhist stories and blessing rituals, including the Buddha's ten blessings, the Buddha's visit to the sacred forest, the offering of alms at Thanakhan (including the offering of elephants, horses, and other livestock), the Buddha's journey through the tiger and lion forest, the story of the elephant, the Buddha's ascetic practices in search of food, the welcoming of the Buddha by six kings into the city, and the story of Maharaja.
The thirteen major Buddhist festivals of Laos record, in chronological order, the Buddha's practices of giving, offering, and doing good deeds before attaining enlightenment. According to tradition, the Boeung Pavisandon Festival is held on the 15th day of the fourth lunar month or the day of the full moon, based on the Lao calendar. It is an important traditional festival for the local people to inherit Buddhist culture and unite folk beliefs.
