“Bun Kao Lham” is a snack of glutinous rice roasted in bamboo tubes, a traditional offering, as well as rice noodles in a fish and anchovy curry sauce. These offerings are made to the monks at Nong Bua Temple and Nong Han Temple, which are located in Panom Sarakham district, Chachoengsao province. This tradition is held on the 15th night of the waxing moon, of the third month every year. The reason for offering Kao Lham could be because the third month is the month of the rice harvest, and most of the villagers work as farmers. Therefore, they use the rice from the first harvest to cook food using ripened bamboo as a container to cook the rice. This is called Kao Lham, and it is offered to the monks. The roasting of Kao Lham starts from the 14th night of the waxing moon of the third month; the villagers will collect bamboo within the village to make rice tubes. Therefore, the bamboo has to be not too old or too young and it cannot have tiny holes as these holes can cause an unpleasant smell, and there is no membrane in the bamboo to make the rice stick to the tube. The length of the tubes should be about 18 inches using the stem of the bamboo and cutting into pieces with the joints on the bottom of each tube. Then, a mixture of sticky rice and coconut milk is put into the tubes and roasted in the courtyard by digging into the soil and building a shallow pit; the sticky rice tubes should be parallel to the fire. Some people use dread trees as fuel. The next morning, the 15th day of the waxing moon, or full moon day, the villagers will bring Kao Lham and rice noodles to the temple as offerings. Bun Kao Lham of Lao Vientiane people is still made as it was in the past and has also mixed with Thai traditions, which includes putting gold sheets on the copy of the Buddha’s footprints at Khao Dongyang Temple (Suwaankeeree Temple) in the Nong Han sub-district, Panom Sarakham district, Chachoengsao province. In the middle of the third month, the Lao Vientiane people who live about four to six kilometers from Dongyang Temple have to travel on foot to place the gold sheets to pay respect, using the route which passed Hua Samrong village in the Hua Samrong sub-district, Plaeng Yao district, where many Thai-Cambodian people live.The Bun Kao Lham tradition is well-known in the Hua Samrong village and was later accepted as the tradition of their community, known as the Kuen Khao Pao Kao Lham tradition until today.

Event : 18-19 February 2019 Address : ChomChon Wat Hua Samrong School,Hua Samrong Sub-district, Plaeng Yao District, Chachoengsao