I was inside the Asalha Bucha procession at Wat Jed Yod

Field dispatch, 29 July 2026 · Wat Jed Yod, Chiang Mai

Asalha Bucha is a Buddhist holy day. I walked in the candlelit procession.

Wat Jed Yod is a working temple, not a ruin. The Jed Yod neighborhood takes its name from it. On 29 July 2026, I joined wian tian, เวียนเทียน, and walked all three circuits.

By 8pm, monks and novices had formed up barefoot with candles lit. Laypeople followed them. We each carried one candle, three incense sticks and a flower. We walked clockwise three times around the Maha Chedi. The photographs are slightly blurred because I took them while walking in the procession. After the third circuit, we prayed at the Bodhi tree shrine among its many Buddha images and small naga figures.

Barefoot monks and novices holding lit candles on the laterite paving at Wat Jed Yod at night, before the wian tian procession — Fig. 1 Monks and novices with candles lit before the wian tian walk. Wat Jed Yod, 29 July 2026

29 July 2026 was Asalha Bucha, วันอาสาฬหบูชา. Khao Phansa, วันเข้าพรรษา, followed on 30 July and has no candlelit walk.

Check the date before you travel, and pick the first of the two days.

The wian tian procession of monks moving alongside the Maha Chedi at Wat Jed Yod, with a saffron cloth wrapped around the base — Fig. 2 The procession alongside the Maha Chedi. Wat Jed Yod, 29 July 2026

The forked poles under the Bodhi tree are ไม้ค้ำสะหลี, mai kham sali, in Lanna. They stand there all year. They are not part of the holy day.

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