Loi Krathong

Last week was Loi Krathong, a festival that is celebrated throughout Thailand on the 12th full moon of the Thai lunar calendar. A Krathong is a decorative float that is usually made from banana tree trunks, banana leaves, and flowers found around the house. The night before the festival I spent a few hours with my neighbors making Krathongs that we would float along the river the following night. We bent banana leaves and folded them into different shapes so we could pin them onto the trunk with small pieces of wood. Then we placed flowers around the leaves to make beautiful arrangements. Finally we put incense and a candle in the middle of the Krathong. My first experience at making a Krathong was surprisingly successful and even my neighbors agreed that mine was beautiful.

Dew and Ao making their Krathongs.

Some of the almost finished products.

Showing off our floats.

This one is mine!

The night of the festival we had a huge party on the big field outside of my office. There was a big stage with insanely loud speakers, food carts, trampolines, bouncy houses, and darts. It started around 5pm with a parade. Each smaller village picked the most beautiful woman to ride on a large float and participate in a contest to see which village had the most beautiful woman. After the parade there was a concert, Thai dancing, Hill Tribe dancing, and awards were given out. 

My friend Jam was selected as the most beautiful one in our village so she got to ride on the float.

After the parade we lit hundreds of big lanterns and watched them float up into the sky. This is actually part of a Northern thai festival known as Yi Peng but it is always celebrated simultaneously with Loi Krathong. I thought for sure I was going to catch on fire at some point during this but I managed to escape unscathed. As the lanterns float away we "tamboon" or make merit.

To finish off the night I went to the river to Loi (float) my Krathong. At this point it was around 11pm and I had to climb down this muddy bank in the dark, light the candle and incense, climb on this tiny wooden ladder, and place my Krathong in the river. I have no idea how I managed to avoid falling in. Before you Loi your Krathong you make a wish. I also think you are supposed to imagine all of the stresses or troubles in your life floating away with the Krathong as you watch it disappear down the river... or at least that's what I did.

Loi Krathong was definitely my favorite Thai holiday so far. I hope to sneak a few of the lanterns in my bag to bring back to America.