This month’s main feature takes you to the wonderful Tan Kuay Salak festival. There’s one thing you shouldn’t miss in this event - the kuay salak or basket containing life necessities, which Buddhists offer to the monks. Let’s take a look inside the basket. . .

Consumer goods

Consumer goods - here’s what people need for their daily lives. Soaps, detergent, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, for example. Because monks have to stay inside the temple for the whole three months of Buddhist lent, these are very useful.

Dried and instant food

Dried and instant food - rice, noodles, vermicelli, and herbs. The dried food can be kept and cooked for food when there is nothing to eat, during the three months that the monks ‘hibernate’.

Seasonal fruit, local desserts, tobacco, betel nut and tea leaves

Seasonal fruit, local desserts, tobacco, betel nut and tea leaves - fruits and desserts are eaten after meals, of course. Tobacco, betel nut and tea leaves are what people (especially old people) love to have after meals. So they add them to the basket as well.

Notebook

Notebook - what do monks do when they stay in the temple? Not sleep all day long, definitely. They study Buddhist teachings, so a notebook is very important for every learner.

Artificial flowers

Artificial flowers - for decoration, people usually attaching money to a flower stick.

There is no set of rules as to what’s to be put in and what is not. You can be creative and mix things you think important for life. Anyway, most of the donated items are basic things one needs for the simple monastic life.