Loi Krathong (pronounced ‘loy kra-tong’) is celebrated once a year throughout Thailand as well as Myanmar, Cambodia and China. In Thailand, it occurs on the full moon of the 12th lunar month according to the Thai lunar calendar. In 2022, that was November 8. Festivities in Chiangmai Mai occurred from November 7-9, 2022. In Chiang Mai, it’s one of the highlights of the year as it also acts as part of a ‘continuing survival’ ritual for the city – as long as the city carries out the Buddhist rituals, it will keep standing.
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Special Note About Travel: do not plan to arrive or leave by plane during the festival. Flights are frequently canceled because floating candles interfere with flight navigation. Also, those who are sensitive to loud noises or gun fire should avoid Chiang Mai at this time due to fireworks.
Loi means ‘to float’ while Krathong has several translations but basically means ‘small vessel made of leaves’. The vessel is typically made of biodegradable ingredients, most commonly with a slice of a banana tree as a base, and various flowers and folded leaves on top. We saw some also made of bread, corn starch-based packing pellets and even ice cream cones! Buying ready-made Krathong was easy; they were literally being sold at almost every roadside stand typically for 30-50 baht (US$0.81-1.35) during the festival. Particularly good places to find Krathong include the Warorot market, where there are a number of floral shops making beautiful Krathong with fresh flowers, and the Mueang Mai market, which also sells lots of fresh produce, meat and seafood.
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On the first night of the festival, we followed a parade of over 500 women plus several gigantic drums from the Tha Phae gate to the Three Kings monument. Though this was the first time in three years the ceremony had been held live, it didn’t feel too crowded. After an hour of chanting, drumming and local dignitary invocations, the women did a candle dance. It’s very moving to see 500 people move in synchrony with lit candles all the way down several city blocks. Sarah and I lit candles on altars for our respective zodiac year and, at the urging of a Buddhist novice, wrote messages on a lantern that was then hung on a wall of lightbulbs. Finally, on our way home, we wandered into several wats, which were open late for Loi Krathong with lanterns and decorations – at one, we purchased and hung another lantern on the grounds of the temple.
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On the second day of festivities, which was also the full moon, we walked on several bridges, released our Krathong on the river and watched others, and then watched a lot of fireworks, both set off by individuals along the riverbank and those set off by the city (the ‘official’ fireworks). There were so many personal fireworks, the smoke floated around like fog. It’s strange seeing people being so laissez-faire with fire, since in California we have lots of wildfires.
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Above are pictures of floating our kratong in the river, and a video some of the ‘official’ fireworks.
On day 3, we decided to just see the final parade. This was the biggest parade of the three days and included marching bands, and floats from local universities as well as many countries. Each country also had participants wearing traditional costumes or flag colors
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