Source: Bangkock Post

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=114474

More than 1,000 Thai Buddhists in southern provinces today joined in a mass merit-making ceremony held to boost the morale of local Buddhist monks and people in the country's far South affected by the growing insurgency and to pray for the restoration of peace in the region.

Some 500 Buddhist monks from 266 temples in Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat were invited to attend the ceremony, which was held at the compound of the Songkhla provincial building.

Apart from giving food, alms and other necessities to the monks, Buddhists attending the ceremony also joined in the ceremony of redeeming cattle lives from being slaughtered and releasing other animals, the rituals performed to dedicate merit to those who died from the southern unrest, as well as to lift the spirits of those who are still alive and living in the region.

Merit-makers and well-wishers also offered necessary items to security officers who are tasked with peacekeeping duty in the region. Villagers who turned up at the event said they wished for a quick restoration of peace.