2015 Dallas Thai New Year Festival

The Buddhist Center of Dallas Temple celebrates its annual Thai New Year Festival on Sunday, April 12, 2015 with Thai traditional food and culture performances.  Their goal is to raise awareness for the Buddhist Temple and the Thai community of Dallas.

The festival begins with traditional offerings to the Buddhist monks. Offerings can vary from food, water, flower, gifts and envelope with money.  Offering within the traditional Buddhist framework of karma and rebirth symbolized a better rebirth in the cycle of birth and death, release from suffering, and nurture generosity and virtue.  The act further honors the deepening one’s commitment to the Buddha’s path.  These offerings often act as preparation for meditation.

After the offerings, festival guests took off their shoes and enter the Buddhist temple to begin the morning prayers.  Before the prayer, guest must give a quick bow, with two hands closed, toward the Buddhist statue or altar.  Then, everyone must sit on the floor and pray together with the Buddhist monks. Once the prayers are done, everyone went outside to enjoy the Thai New Year Festival.

The festival included a vast collection of Asian and Thai food, from really spicy papayas salad to miniature dim sum to grill barbeque meat on a stick which seem like many people enjoy because it has the longest line.  One food booth display an array of unique fresh mixture of meat and herbs that is very tasty, while another corner has fried tofu and other goodies.  French bread slices or Thai sticky rice was available for purchase to eat with your main course.  We have not forgot the multiple, delicious desserts, especially the decorative fresh fruits and the sesame seed fried dough balls with different fillings.  The fried dough ball is a pastry made from glutinous rice flour. The pastry is coated with sesame seeds on the outside and is crisp and chewy.  Inside the pastry are fillings, usually with sweet black bean paste or red bean paste.  It is a slightly sweet dessert, mostly from the bean paste.  Yummy!