In Thai, Lao and Cambodian Theravada Buddhist societies, a wat has historically functioned as far more than a place of worship, serving as a village or neighborhood's school, meeting hall, dispute resolution venue and social safety net in addition to its formal religious role, so that a community's identity and its wat are often closely bound together in a way that has no exact equivalent in traditions where worship space and civic space are more clearly separated. Temporary ordination remains a widespread expectation for young Buddhist men in the region, who may spend a period, historically often several months and today frequently much shorter, as an ordained monk resident at a wat before returning to lay life, a practice understood both as a rite of passage and as an act generating substantial merit for the ordinand's family, particularly the mother.
Wats are the primary venue for the calendar of Buddhist festivals and merit making activities that structure much of traditional social and religious life in the region, including almsgiving ceremonies, robe offering festivals at the close of the rains retreat, and cremation rites, drawing lay participation well beyond the resident monastic community. Before the spread of state run secular schooling, wats also served as the primary providers of basic education in many rural areas, teaching literacy alongside religious instruction, a historical role that continues in a reduced form at some wats today through supplementary religious education programs for lay children and young novices.