One of the most fascinating water-based
cultural events in Thailand, Loy Krathong takes place on the full-moon night of
the twelfth lunar month, or in November. It is a well-known festival among
foreigners, as well.
The festival lasts a few days in some places,
but the highlight of the celebration is on the full-moon night, which this year
falls on 17 November.
People celebrate this festival by
gathering on the banks of rivers and canals to float lotus blossom shaped
vessels of various sizes called krathong. They light candles and
incense sticks, making a wish, and carefully place the krathong in a river,
canal, stream, or pond.
Loy Krathong 2011 in Bangkok. Photo: An
Bường.
Loy Krathong is a form of thanksgiving
by the people to the waterways on which they depend. The festival is also meant
to seek pardon from the Goddess of Water for their sins in polluting the water.
For the rural folk, this festival is believed to carry away the sins and
misfortunes of the past year.
The actual birth of the Loy Krathong
Festival remains a mystery, although it is thought this age-old tradition was
influenced by a Brahmin ceremony in India. According to written accounts of
Thai history, Loy Krathong came into being during the Sukhothai period in the
late 13th century. There is evidenced that in the days when Sukhothai was the
capital of the Thai Kingdom, Loy Krathong was a state ceremony, a way of paying
homage to sacred beings.
Then, the tradition was modified when
Nang Nopphamat, a royal consort in the Sukhothai royal court, thought up the
idea of making the krathong into the shape of a lotus flower
as well as other shapes, and using it to float downstream. Since then, the
floating of krathong has become a distinctive way of paying
homage to the Buddha, and the practice was called “Loy Krathong Prathip, or the
“Floating of Candlelit Krathong.”
Today, Sukhothai province in the North
is one of the focal points of the Loy Krathong celebration, with many cultural
performances and decorated scenes. The province is holding the festival from 13
to 17 November at the Sukhothai Historical Park in Mueang district.
The northern province of Chiang Mai
also celebrates the Loy Krathong Festival on a grand scale. This year, it is
scheduled to hold various activities from 16 to 18 November. Other interesting
places to celebrate this festival include Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Tak, Samut
Songkhram, Suphan Buri, Ratchaburi, and Lop Buri.
The Loy Krathong Festival reflects the
intimate relations between Thai people and waterways on which they depend for
their livelihood. It is a sheer delight to observe flickering candle lights in
a river or canal on the full-moon night of the twelfth lunar month.
(thailand.prd.go.th)