The Kathin Festival is a traditional Buddhist festival celebrated by villagers in Isan and Laos. Colourful parades and offering ceremonies at the end of monks' retreat at local temples. On Ok Phansa day of the full moon, villagers and city dwellers will go to their local temple for prayers and paying respect to the sacred. Ok Phansa is also the beginning of a 30-day period of merit-making which affords a special opportunity for prayers to Buddha and for the presentation of gifts to the monks for preserving the faith. This 30-day span of merit-making and religious gift-giving is referred to as Thord Pha Gathin.
