Celebrating Loy Krathong

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The Loy Krathong is one of the biggest celebrations in Thailand. It is traditionally performed on the full moon night of the 12th lunar month, usually a day in November. "Loy" means "to float". "Krathong" is a small raft traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions use specially made bread 'flowers' or styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people release a small raft like this on a river. The floating of a ‘Krathong' is intended to float away ill fortune and to express apologies to Khongkha or Ganga, the River Goddess. The Loy Krathong Festival is celebrated nationwide in Thailand, especially where there are rivers, canals or sources of water, with different unique characteristics.

To celebrate Loy Krathong, Jac and I rode down to the border to float and watch the Krathongs on the border river, Moei. There were crowds of people, stalls and a local fair leading up to the border that prevented us from making it to the water. People were overflowing in cars, trucks, scooters and bikes to celebrate the Loy Krathong, as you can see from a couple of the pictures. I could only imagine how busy it would have been in other parts of Thailand with water because this is meant to be a quieter town, with crowds indicating the exact opposite.

While we were standing next to the floats taking photos a family decided they wanted pictures of us and unexpectedly put their daughter in my arms. The little girl behaved well under the circumstances of being in the arms of a stranger and besides being surprised we took this as a compliment. I call this picture our adopted family.

It was a great night of celebrations with several different food stalls and entertainment.

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Photos

Racing track for the kids
Unfortunately not a lot of room for them to ride around on.