- Published: 12/08/2012 at 03:20 AM
- Newspaper section: World
Thais nationwide are celebrating Her Majesty the Queen's 80th birthday and Mother's Day today with numerous celebrations and ceremonies.
SHOW OF RESPECT: Monks say a prayer at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha yesterday to offer blessings to Her Majesty the Queen for her 80th birthday. PHOTO: THITI WANNAMONTHAAfterwards, the prime minister will chair a ceremony to light candles to celebrate the Queen's birthday and to offer blessings and prayers for Her Majesty at Sanam Luang.
An exhibition in honour of the Queen, jointly arranged by the government and private operators, remains open to the public until Wednesday at CentralWorld.
The exhibition displays the Queen's contributions to the well-being of her subjects.
Meanwhile, the Corrections Department has given inmates special permission to meet their mothers in person until tomorrow to mark the Queen's birthday.
More than 10,000 people are expected to take part in various aerobic activities today to honour the Queen, organised by the Education Ministry's Department of Physical Education and the Tourism and Sports Ministry.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has announced a "Car Free Sunday" and invited mothers and their children to ride bicycles and explore Taling Chan district's canals near the Koh San Chao community as well as Khlong Lad Mayom market and Talad Nam Wat Saphan.
Yesterday, the BMA orgnanised a Buddhist chanting ceremony involving monks from around the Kingdom at the Emerald Buddha Temple in the Grand Palace.
At Siriraj hospital, where Their Majesties the King and Queen are being treated, streams of people yesterday turned up to sign get-well books for the King and the Queen and to wish them a speedy recovery. The queues continued throughout the day.
The Queen yesterday skipped her annual address to VIPs such as the prime minister, the opposition leader, cabinet ministers and the top military brass at Chitralada Palace ahead of her birthday today because she is still recovering in hospital.
The price of Jasmine, or ma li, the flower commonly given to mothers on this special day, is reported to have skyrocketed at markets throughout the country.
Jasmine flowers are expected to cost as much as 1,000 to 1,200 baht a kilo throughout the Mother's Day celebrations.
The normal price is about 200 baht a kilo, a villager who arranges floral decorations in Phitsanulok's Bang Rakam district said.
BangkokPost
