Families offered food to monks riding elephants for a Buddhist festival.

Footage shows parents with their children handing snacks to the orange-robed men sitting on the back of jumbos dressed in red and gold clothes in Surin province, Thailand, on July 20.

Some festival-goers stood on platforms to reach the monks onboard the giant animals while the children put offerings onto their bowls.

The tourists waited as 36 elephants passed by. Asalha Bucha Day commemorates Buddha's founding of the religion. It is observed on the full moon of the eight lunar months, which usually falls in July.

Buddhism is the official religion of Thailand, and it is followed by more than 95 per cent of the population.