100th birthday celebrations organised for Thai Supreme Patriarch

BANGKOK, October 1 (TNA) - Wat Bowonniwet Vihara in the heart of Bangkok is organising activities, from October 1-7, 2013, to honourably celebrate the 100th birthday anniversary for Thailand's Supreme Patriarch. Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra joined an alms giving ceremony for 200 Buddhist monks, at the temple on Tuesday morning, as part of the grand birthday celebrations for the incumbent Supreme Patriarch, known in Thai as Somdet Phra Yannasangwon Somdet Phra Sangkharat (Charoen Suwatthano), who turns 100 years old on October 3. The prime minister then wrote a well-wishing message for the Supreme Patriarch on the auspicious occasion and was presented a book and a photograph of the Supreme Patriarch as souvenirs. The activities organised at the temple, said to be more special this year in order to honour the country's oldest Supreme Patriarch to date, include an exhibition held at the Makhut Ratchawittayalai University Building, titled "100 Years of Somdet Phra Sangkharat". Visitors to the temple are also welcome to worship nine sacred Buddhist sites in the temple's compound. (TNA)