Loi Krathong Festival
Last night was the most incredible evening. It is what this little adventure of mine is all about.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the entire country is celebrating Loy Krathong. It is one of their most popular festivals and celebrates the end of the rainy season. It occurs on the 10th full moon of the year. A “Krathong” is a small bowl shaped vessel made traditionally from banana leaves. It has perched on it a couple of incense sticks and a candle. Some are quite exotic with numerous flowers and decorations.
After saying a prayer, it is launched on the river or other body of water, and is meant as a thank you to the Goddess of the River for plentiful clean water. This is a little hard to understand, as I am yet to see a clean body of water here. However, this tradition goes back to the 13th Century. It also signifies the floating away of wrongdoings, uncontrollable calamities and the cleansing of sins.
In the City are many celebrations, parades, street festivals etc. Also on the river they advertise and schedule fireworks. Well they have a fireworks barge (made of bamboo) anchored in the river. The Ping River runs from Chiang Mai to the Chao Phraya in Bangkok. Every so often a small barrage of fireworks is launched into the air. Of course it is right over the crowd, safety never seems to be a concern here. Anyway, they launch 5 or 6 fireworks and then maybe 30 minutes or so later, some more. Although I did not stay, this supposedly goes on until about midnight. Thus, their 6PM ‘til midnight fireworks display.
People at random go to the edge of the river. Downtown they have constructed bamboo walkways along the edge of the river, and launch their Krathong. Some are homemade, while others are sold by the hundreds by street vendors. All night long these Krathongs float aimlessly down the river. As many come from far upriver, by the time they reach the city their candles have gone out and to me look like just some more litter floating downstream. In fact there is a big controversy in Bangkok this year, over the use of Styrofoam instead of traditional materials.
That was Monday night and although interesting it was a little disappointing. Last night I chose to stay home and see what goes on in our village. All the villages (even the City) have loudspeakers attached to various poles throughout the area. The local Wat (Temple) apparently has full control. The service or other messages are broadcast over these speakers to the whole area. So at dark the chanting of monks echoed through the area.
For luck, all the households set off fireworks. And I mean FIREWORKS. Detroit at midnight on New Year’s Eve could not come anywhere near this. I have never been in a true battle zone, but it must sound like this. There are just hundreds of blasts and rockets and roman candles launched continuously.
In addition all the houses line the walls along the road with candles. I guess you could compare it to our Christmas lights, but these are real live candles, again by the hundreds. People come out into their yards and the little country lanes (soi’s) and mingle or watch the fireworks.
The most spectacular are the sky lanterns. After dark as we sat on the porch eating dinner I would see these “hot air balloons” about 4 feet in size, rise from the Temple trailing fireworks and float high into the air. I saw more and more high in the sky floating over the area. I learned that this is a tradition in the North of Thailand only.
I mean these things are up there. I rode a motorcycle to the edge of the village where I had an unobstructed view of the countryside and the mountains. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of these lanterns sailing through the night sky. The sky was perfectly clear with the full moon and fireworks everywhere. It is really indescribable for me.
I wanted to see one of these up close so I rode to the next village and found some teenage boys in a yard readying one for launch. I stopped to watch from the soi, but they motioned me in to join them. The lantern is shaped like the end of a finger of a glove. It is made from some type of strong, but lightweight rice paper. I found they vary in size from about 3 feet tall to maybe 6 feet or more. Some are made in other shapes resembling box kites. At the bottom is suspended some type of container with fuel that looks almost like a large “Sterno” can. 2 or 3 people hold the balloon upright while someone lights the canister. They hold the balloon until it fills with the hot air and starts to become buoyant. Finally, one of them attaches a string of firecrackers or other fireworks to the bottom. When they think it has become buoyant enough, the fireworks are lit, and the lantern released.
It rises rapidly into the air. I saw one that actually had a skyrocket attached to help push it skyward. As it rises, the fireworks ignite at various intervals, and finally the balloon floats off among the hundreds of others.
As I rode back to my village (through a barrage of firecrackers other such things), I found my neighbors gathered in the street ready to launch 2 from our soi. I joined them and it is really a fun event. I have no idea what happens when these things come down. I assume the fires die before they land. The hazard potential is obvious. I saw one, near the local market area, that like a stray kite, was stuck in the utility pole burning away.
Tonight is the last night of Loi Krathong. I don’t know if it will be more of the same or not. I would love to bring some of them home and launch them over Detroit. I can imagine the havoc the sightings would cause.
All is well, Happy Loi Krathong and Happy Thanksgiving to all.