Loi Krathong
Yesterday was Loi Krathong day here in Thailand and we were able to attend our community's celebration. A krathong is a "boat," typically made from banana leaves, and it contains flowers, a candle, incense sticks and some coins. The practice of making and floating these on the first full moon in November began as a way to apologize or atone for polluting the water that is so important to the life of Thailand. From what we read and observed there is also an element of praying or wishing for a happy future.
It's a very happy celebration and is a family-oriented event. At our local park there were food vendors as well as people selling hundreds of krathongs. There were also carnival-style games, singing children, and a beauty queen contest. At dusk people began lighting the candles and incense sticks and floating their krathongs in the small pond.
Celebrations like this took place all across Thailand. Today one of the Bangkok papers reported that "A city hall campaign to encourage families to float just one krathong each into the capital's waterways appears to have caught on. Bangkok refuse workers collected about 20 per cent - or 250,000 - fewer floats this Loy Krathong from canals and waterways." That gives you an idea of how popular this festival is!
Here are a few pictures...
One of the many tables full of krathongs for sale.
Claire posing with a krathong.
People would light their krathong, take a moment to pray, and then release it into the water.
The most interesting game at the festival involved this ring with about 50 numbered tubes around the edge. Participants purchased tickets corresponding to the numbers and then two mice were released into the ring. One of them would eventually run into one of the tubes and whoever had selected that number would win a prize (anything from a stuffed animal to a radio to a case of beer). We tried our luck once, but unfortunately the mouse did not run into tube #12 and we left empty-handed. I felt somewhat cheated because at one point the mouse was heading in the general direction of our tube, but the people standing nearby evidently had their money on tubes on the opposite side of the ring and they succeeded in scaring the mouse away by banging on the wall. Oh well, maybe next year...
-Tom