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Published: 26 May 2011
Kathina is a Buddhist festival which comes at the end of Vassa, the three-month rainy season retreat for Theravada Buddhists.[1] The season during which a monastery may hold a Kathina festival is one month long, beginning after the full moon of the eleventh month in the Lunar calendar (usually October).
It is a time of giving, for the laity to express gratitude to monks.[2][3] Lay Buddhists bring donations to temples, especially new robes for the monks.
As the legend goes, thirty bhikkhus were journeying with the intention of spending Vassa with Gautama Buddha.[1] However, Vassa began before they reached their destination and they had to stop.[1][4] According to Buddha's guidelines for Vassa, mendicant monks shouldn't travel during the rainy season as they may unintentionally harm crops and/or insects during their journey.[5] As such, the monks had to stop.
Afterwards, the Buddha rewarded the monks by demonstrating a way to practice sharing and generosity. A lay disciple had previously donated cloth to the Buddha, so the Buddha now gave that cloth to the group of monks and told them to make it into a robe and then offer it as a gift to one of them. A frame, called a Kathina, was used to spread the robe while it was being made.
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