Kathin Ceremony in Washington State

October 25, 2002

Source: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

On October 25, 2002 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that "the Washington Buddhavanaram, one of the largest Southeast Asian Buddhist temples in the state, will shed its serene, semirural disposition and take on the personality of a carnival. It will all be for the Kathin ceremony, a religious ritual based on an ancient story seemingly incongruent with modern times. But the festival, in which worshippers offer new robes to monks, has survived 2,500 years and the migration of believers to become one of most important holidays for many Buddhists."