SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand (AFP) — With her palms pressed together and her head bowed, Wassana Nak-umma vowed to give up alcohol for three months, joining millions of Thais in an abstinence campaign blending public health with spirituality.

The 42-year-old housewife, who took the pledge at a Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon, west of Bangkok, admitted she used to be a “heavy drinker.”

“I used to get so drunk that my kids had to clean up my vomit,” she told Agence France-Presse candidly.

But a concerned relative persuaded her to join a campaign to give up alcohol during Khao Phansa, a three-month period of reflection observed by Buddhists akin to Christian Lent.

“I still craved it. Whenever I saw people buying liquor or beer at stores, I would look at them and want to drink like them,” she said.

“But I held back, telling myself it was only three months. After that three-month period, I realized, ‘Hey, I can do this! Next year, I must do it again.’”

That was in 2024. Wassana went back to drinking, but in moderation, and this week joined hundreds in Samut Sakhon to pledge abstinence for her third year.

Avoiding drugs and alcohol is a key precept of Buddhism.

But Thailand, where more than 90 percent of the population identify as Buddhist, has the third highest per capita consumption of alcohol in Asia, according to 2024 data from the World Health Organization.