On a sunny and pleasant spring day on April 28th, the largest Thai temple outside Thailand in Raynham, Massachusetts welcomed tens of thousands of visitors. People enjoyed delicious food, performances, and a parade to celebrate the traditional Thai New Year – Songkran festival.
In the morning, dozens of stalls were set up near the Thai temple in Raynham, attracting a crowded group of people. There were barbecue, Thai noodles, sugarcane juice, and various other mouth-watering delicacies, filling the streets with a rich aroma.
By noon, when the crowd was at its peak, the organizers, guests, and performers presented a spectacular opening ceremony parade. The monks and guests at the scene first cut the ribbon for the celebration, paying devout homage to the Buddha statue. The parade was led by ubiquitous Thai tuk-tuks, followed by dignitaries with banners, as well as traditional Thai costume-clad bands and dance troupes.
On the main stage behind the temple, students and teachers from a local Thai language school delivered beautiful music and dance performances. Guest speakers including Somjai Taphaopong, the Thai Consul General in New York, and Massachusetts Senator Marc R. Pacheco took the stage to congratulate the festival.
While presenting a congratulatory certificate from the Senate, Pacheco also reminisced about his wonderful memories visiting Thailand. “I have witnessed the beauty of this country, the beauty of these people, not only in terms of material possessions and faith, but also in the love Thais have for each other, for their families, and for the world,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that the Thai temple in Raynham was designed by Taiwanese architect Wang Benren and is approaching its 10th-anniversary celebration this year.
The temple was built in honor of the former Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, and includes a main hall for the Buddha image, meditation rooms, a museum, a Thai language school, and other cultural facilities. The temple’s initiator was Phra Promwachirayan, the Vice Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, and the main sponsors were Indonesian Chinese tycoon Lin Shaoliang and his son.
Wang Benren also participated in the traditional Thai New Year celebration on Saturday, bringing along a group from the New England Hakka Association to tour the largest Thai-style temple outside Thailand. He jokingly commented that being able to take part in the construction of this temple was truly a matter of fate.
Wang Benren mentioned that Phra Promwachirayan wanted to build a temple in Massachusetts to commemorate the 60th anniversary of King Rama IX’s reign, who was born in Thailand. The Vice Supreme Patriarch had seen many design proposals but was not satisfied until 2006 when he passed by Genzyme, a biopharmaceutical plant on the Charles River in Boston, and marveled, “This is the shape I dreamt of.”
Thus, the Vice Supreme Patriarch located the designer of the Genzyme building, Wang Benren, and commissioned him to design the Thai temple in Raynham, Massachusetts.
Wang Benren explained that for perfecting the design, he visited Thailand every year, and had frequent meetings with the Vice Supreme Patriarch’s team. Among the apprentice architects he led, there were also several members from elite Thai families. After years of design and construction, this fusion of Eastern and Western-style Thai temple was completed in 2013 and officially opened on June 15, 2014.
This June will mark the 10th anniversary celebration of this temple. Wang Benren added with a smile that the temple has purchased around 50 acres of land nearby for further development. Therefore, he will continue to assist the temple in design and construction work in the future.