Thetsagan Sart

:"This article is about Thailand autumnal festivals; for a group of Central Asian people, see Sart.

Thetsagan Sart, _th. เทศกาลสารท (เทด-สะ-กาน-สาท) (RTGS 'Sat') refers to autumnal festivals with many features of animism, attributing souls or spirits to animals, plants and other entities.

Etymology

Thet if a single word, or if compounded Thetsa- _th. เทศ- (เทด-สะ-), is from Pali "dēśā" and refers to something strange, foreign, or from a foreign countrycite web
url= http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/soas/
title= A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages
accessdate= 2008-07-22
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author= Sir Ralph Lilley Turner (1888-1983)
last= Turner
first= R. L. (Ralph Lilley, Sir)
authorlink= Ralph Lilley Turner
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date= 1966
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publisher= London: Oxford University Press
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quote= ] (Turner: page 374, dēśá 6547; compare dēśāpara 6553).Gan _th. กาล (กาน ), from Pali "kālá", refers to a fixed point in time. (Turner: page 157, kālá 3084.) The bahuvrīhí or exocentic compound word means festival or fair..

Wan Sat Thai

Thetsagan Sart Thai, _th. เทศกาลสารทไทย (เทด-สะ-กาน-สาท-ไท), also called Wan Sat Thai, "Thai Sat Day", occurs at the end of Thai lunar calendar Moon 10, that is, waning day 15, evening, ( _th. วันแรม ๑๕ ค่ำ เดือน ๑๐). This is a New Moon and so is a Buddhist Sabbath; but not one of the "Special Sabbaths", and not one of the secular public holidays in Thailand. It occurs midway past the traditional Thai New Year and near the autumnal equinox. It an occasion for making merit by honoring ( _th. บูชา buucha) the spirits of the season, as well as one's deceased relatives, according to local tradition, _th. ประเพณี pra-pay-nee, with various rites and ceremonies styled _th. พิธี pit-ti.

Wan Sat Chin

Wan Sat Chin _th. วันสารทจีน, Chinese Sat Day, is the same day as Thai Sat Day. Thai Chinese observe Thetsagan Sart Chin _th. เทศกาลสารทจีน as their version of the Chinese Ghost Festival that occurs in the 7th Chinese lunar month.

Begin 9-day Vegetarian Festival

This day also marks the beginning of the 9-day vegetarian Festival, _th. เริ่มเทศกาลกินเจ ๕ วัน roem thet-sa-gan kin-che 9 wan, which began in Phuket but is now observed by some Thai and Thai Chinese throughout the land. ( _th. กินเจ kin-che means to vow in the manner of Vietnamese or Chinese Buddhists to eat a strict vegetarian diet.) [ [http://rirs3.royin.go.th/dictionary.asp Online Royal Institute Dictionary] ]

References

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