Laymen, too, traditionally endeavour to be moreconscientious, perhapes abstaining from liquor and cigarettes and giving extra financial and physical supot to local monasteries. Phansa is also ordinarily the season for temporary ordinations. Young men enter the monkhood for spiritual training, to gain merit for themselves and their parents, and to conform to the widspread feeling that a man who has not been a monk cannot be considered a mature adult. The Buddhist ordination is a mixture of religious solemnity, merit-making, and boisterous celebration reflecting the Thai belief that the three most important events in a man's life are his birth, his ordination, and his marriage. Socially, it is something in which the entire villageparticipates.
Symbolism permeates every aspect of the ordination ceremony.
The nak's white robe connotes purity and the royal umbrella held over his head reminds participants of the royal heritage Price Siddhartha Gautama renounced during his spiritual quest to become the Buddha. Once the rains have ended, the daily rhythm of fieldwork is increasingly concerned with keeping birds away from the ripening rice. During this time fish are abundant in rain-swollen streams and fields. Methods and equipment for freshwater fishing vary from region to region and depending on where the fish are being sought-canals, rivers, ponds, or rice fields. In early November, one of the most beautiful of Thai festivals, Loy Krathong, takes place.