As monsoon season heralds heavy rains throughout the Asian tropics, Buddhist monks bunker down inside monasteries for three months of heightened devotion to meditation and spiritual teaching.
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The traditional rainy season retreat was mirrored in Canberra's southern suburbs as monks at the Sri Lanka Buddhist Temple in Kambah dedicated themselves to imparting guidance in recent weeks.
But solemnity gave way to celebration as hundreds of Buddhist faithful turned out to mark Katina, a festival for the temple laity to show generosity and gratitude to monks after months of service, on Sunday.
Devotees donned cultural dress, carried flowers, danced in the street and beat ceremonial drums in a vibrant early morning parade that wound its way around Jenke Circuit.
Inside the temple grounds, devotees wore shirts and dresses in white - a symbol of purity - as they lined up to offer food to monks who were clad in saffron-coloured robes and cradled begging bowls.
"This is about providing the lay people the maximum opportunity to accrue merits," organising committee member Jay Kottege said.
The monks were also presented with special ceremonial robes to express gratitude for their spiritual teaching. Several Sri Lankan monks were joined by Burmese and Laotian monks from nearby temples.
"The last three months traditionally in India, it's a monsoon country and it rains cats and dogs," Mr Kottege said.
"They advise the monks, do not travel during that season. Stay where you are and redouble your efforts to provide spiritual guidance to lay people."
That meant the Canberran monks had focused on serving the temple's 1200-strong community through frequent sermons, meditation programs and other spiritual activities.
Mr Kottege said the festivities to mark the end of the monks' retreat began with a blessing ceremony on Saturday night.
He said the custom was "utterly important" and brought members of the community together as they cooked and sewed robes for the monks while the men focused on providing spiritual guidance.
"This is the time for the monks to redouble their efforts and the whole community comes together to absorb that teaching and imbibe that teaching," he said.
"[The monks] are very keen observers of the lay people and they will target their teaching to the present day reality in Canberra."
The temple - filled with golden statues of Buddha, heady floral tributes and coloured flags - was "looking resplendent" after a fresh coat of white paint in recent months, he said.
Community members would share a meal before another ceremony brought the annual festival to a close on Sunday night.
