The Monkey Buffet Festival / myLot

Daytona Beach, Florida

October 24, 2025 5:00pm CST

It can be amusing and fun to have some buffet with a bunch of monkeys. It all happens on the last Sunday in November at the ruins of the Phra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi, Thailand. However, humans are not the ones invited to the feast. The guests are monkeys called macaques. This festival is to honor them, and there are thousands of them. It is thought that they bring good luck to the area and the people who live there. The Monkey Buffet Festival starts off with an opening ceremony during which dancers perform in monkey costumes. Then the macaques arrive, and the tables are lined with fruit and vegetables. The fun begins when the monkeys climb the pyramids created from watermelon, durian, lettuce, pineapple and other kinds of food. They are so delighted they jump from table to table. All of the food is as an offering to them. The monkeys earned respect about 2000 years ago according to an epic tale. It tells of Rama, who was a divine prince. His dilemma was that he had to rescue his wife, Sita, from a demon lord. He was helped by Hanuman, a monkey king, and his army. Sita was rescued, and since then monkeys have been known to bring good luck and prosperity. The tourists and townsfolk who come to watch can get food at food stalls. They just have to be careful once the monkeys have eaten because then they are known to throw food and get curious about what people have brought with them. Has anyone heard about this festival?

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18 responses

Go Crossbones

@crossbones27 (51424)

• Mojave, California

24 Oct

I do not think thats good and why monkeys so rude and they over run things when they do not get what they want. I get could be considered with dogs but monkeys when they get together are like people . Dogs are not, dogs mostly take what they need then share to protect everyone\. If monkeys do not get that they get mad and violent. Yep we definitely cousins.

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Go Crossbones

@crossbones27 (51424)

• Mojave, California

24 Oct

@RasmaSandra I did not mean to offend you, just saying animals are going to be animals learn to read the room like you would with people. These could be trained monkeys and like dogs that get trained but the thing is trained or not if presented with a situation they will do their instinct. Have fun just be careful. In Australia I pissed off a 8 foot kangaroo and a donkey, but think the donkey was just mad I did not let it out of its cage.

The Kangaroo had a point, you right sir I will never touch one of your ladies again on the head again, plus I American and Australia booted me out or just was end of my deployment.

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RasmaSandra

@RasmaSandra (90195)

• Daytona Beach, Florida

24 Oct

@crossbones27 that is your opinion but I would still like to see this festival,

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RasmaSandra

@RasmaSandra (90195)

• Daytona Beach, Florida

24 Oct

@crossbones27 you did not offend me I just told you that I would like to see them, Yes, you should not approach animals unless it appears they might not mind,

You're lucky the kangaroo did not punch you out,

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George B Vieto

@Deepizzaguy (115435)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

24 Oct

The first time I have heard of a festival where monkeys enjoyed a buffet.

2 people like this

RasmaSandra

@RasmaSandra (90195)

• Daytona Beach, Florida

24 Oct

@Deepizzaguy too bad it is so far away certainly something I would enjoy seeing,

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George B Vieto

@Deepizzaguy (115435)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

25 Oct

@RasmaSandra

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Heather Echola

@GardenGerty (166143)

• United States

24 Oct

This is a new one to me, and I imagine it would be quite the festival.

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RasmaSandra

@RasmaSandra (90195)

• Daytona Beach, Florida

24 Oct

@GardenGerty if one does not mind monkeys running amok all over the place, I think I would like to see that.

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Jim Bauer

@porwest (109996)

• United States

33m

@RasmaSandra Watched it. lol. Those are some very lucky and happy monkeys.

Ptrikha_2

@ptrikha_2 (48552)

• India

22h

That is a very interesting concept. I have watched a few Thailand videos but never came across this custom. One would have thought that something similar would have been in India but that is not the case. Indeed, we worship Lord Hanuman, who was an incarnation of Lord Shiva in Vanar(Monkey) form and is said to be still roaming on this planet as per our mythological beliefs. Plus wherever there is a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman, we have many monkeys. Call it belief, coincidence or whatever, it is a fact. Anyways, this is indeed a very remarkable festival.

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Ptrikha_2

@ptrikha_2 (48552)

• India

@RasmaSandra Locals seem to be pretty comfortable with the monkeys.