BANGKOK - ABC News reported that more than 2,000 oarsmen have spent months preparing for a "centuries-old Thai royal tradition," and that photographs published with the report show elaborate preparations for the event.

According to the report, the Royal Barge Procession will fill Bangkok's Chao Phraya River with a fleet of intricately decorated barges on Friday. The outlet said the procession is held in time for the annual Buddhist Kathin ceremony, which takes place after the end of Buddhist Lent. The report presents that timing as the connection between the two events.

The summary of the ABC News report describes the Kathin ceremony as one in which Buddhists offer kathin robes to monks who have remained in their, but the summary ends before completing that description. The full account could not be confirmed from the material available for this story.

The available summary does not name any official, organizer, or oarsman, and it does not describe the route of the procession or the hour at which it will begin. The summary also does not say how many barges will take part. Those details may appear in the full article, but they were not available for this report.

The Continental Gazette reviewed a single source for this report. No other outlet's account was available to compare, so no conflicting accounts of the facts reported here were identified. The complete report is available from ABC News.

Sources: ABC News: Photos show elaborate preparations for Thailand’s Royal Barges Procession.