All government offices will be closed this coming Thursday (Mar 1) as Thais all across the country celebrate Makha Bucha day. The sale of alcohol is banned by law on this day.

Makha Bucha is a Buddhist holiday, which takes place annually on the night of the full moon during the third lunar month of the year.

The event marks the anniversary of the Buddha’s first major sermon. On the full moon of the third lunar month, seven months after the Lord Buddha began his teachings when 1,250 monks came together, with no prior arrangement to hear Buddha preach. Buddha ordained these monks and passed to them the basic principles of Buddhism: To eschew all evil, to do only what is good, and to cleanse the mind, along with other teachings which marked a key event in the development of the religion.