Special Food Ceremonies and/or Religious Occasions

Awk Phansa

The end of the Buddhist Lent. Monks are allowed to go out of temples, and people gather to bring them offerings of robes and food, in a ceremony called Thot Kathin, which lasts one month.

Ullambana (Ancestor Day) 

Is celebrated throughout the Mahayana tradition from the first to the fifteenth days of the eighth lunar month. It is believed that the gates of Hell are opened on the first day and the ghosts may visit the world for fifteen days. Food offerings are made during this time to relieve the sufferings of these ghosts. On the fifteenth day, Ulambana or Ancestor Day, people visit cemeteries to make offerings to the departed ancestors. 

Buddhism in Thailand is strongly influenced by traditional beliefs regarding ancestral and natural spirits. Most Thai people own spirit houses, miniature wooden houses in which they believe household spirits live. They present offerings of food and drink to these spirits to keep them happy. If these spirits aren't happy, it is believed that they will inhabit the larger household of the Thai, and cause chaos. These spirit houses can be found in public places and in the streets of Thailand, where the public make offerings.