(Canceled due to Covid.)
Wat Lao Buddhist Temple
-1804 E Park Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50320
– Please join us for the annual Lao New Year’s Service! The event will include a “Tak Bat”, in which lay members of the temple donate “alms” to Buddhist monks; this food later comes back to the community “blessed.” The service includes a washing of the temple’s Buddha statues, as well as a ritual sprinkling of water on the congregation, both of which symbolically remove any evil and wrongdoing from the previous year. Guests are invited to stay past 11am for a short parade, a long meal, and many other festivities.