Loi Krathong - Light Festival
| Date: Late October - early November. |
Loi Krathong, 'festival of light', is held in Chang
Mai during the night with the full moon. The Thai people
honour the water spirits by gathering near waterways with
their friends and families. You will find the waterways
packed with floating banana baskets with candles on top.
These baskets are made in the shapes of Lotus flowers. The
old city of Chang Mai is surrounded by a wide moat with road
ways either side.The festival gets it's origins from Buddism. Monks used to perform this ritual as an act of deep reverence and worship of the 
holy footprints of Lord Buddha. More recently there
was a revival of long lost customs. Many lanterns were set
afloat on the
waterways
to commemorate this ancient ritual. Soon the locals resumed
the ritual until today, the majority of the population join
in. If the locals are not near a waterway, then they use
cylindrical shaped hot air balloons. As you can
imagine, the night sky and waterways are alight, creating a
magical effect. As a result it is now internationally
renown. |
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