Loy Krathong

Last night (the 28th) we celebrated Loy Krathong even though the full moon (which the day of the celebration is based on) wasn't in sight. I did not know what the festival was before coming to Thailand, but I had seen pictures of it before and you probably have, too. Most of the more famous pictures of the festival are taken in Chiang Mai and look something like this:

Chiang Mai

The festival has changed, developed, and morphed a lot over the years. When we asked the Thai teachers about it, it was summarized as a time to show appreciation for nature. It is celebrated by lighting a lantern and sending it into the sky and/or making a krathong (which I did!) to float in the river. We were told to make a wish when we put our krathong in the river and think of any negative aspect of our life we want to let go and put behind us. Most krathongs are make of a piece of a banana tree trunk, banana leaves, flowers (especially orchids), a candle, and incense. The Chinese teachers were making them at school yesterday with some of the students and luckily I wasn't teaching at the time so I got to make one (minus flowers), too! I find celebrating Loy Krathong a little contradictory since honoring nature meant putting a lot of plastic, paper, and other trash in the rivers and air, but I'm all about trying to get immersed in the culture so tried not to think of that detail.

My Krathong

I really wanted to go to Chiang Mai for the festival, but unfortunately it in the north of Thailand and the full moon landed on a school day. One of the women that works in the office at our school invited us to celebrate Loy Krathong with her (side note: spelling is very inconsistent here with roman letters, so you may see it spelled loy or loi). We met Jinny at her shop, which she works at after school, in the old market (about 1 mile from our apartment). The market is basically on the river, which has a big sidewalk/board walk where many people were celebrating.

Loy Krathong in Suphanburi

There were huge, elaborate Krathongs that various groups of people in Suphan made. They were so beautiful and complicated with tons of banana leaves woven in different ways. It kind of reminded me of sand castle building contests as a comparison. There was also a beauty contest for kids going on, which is evidently common at Loy Krathong celebrations (Toddlers in Tiara's anyone?). I placed my Krathong on the water slide to go down into the river, made a wish, and let some negative thoughts go. Very refreshing.

Krathong Water Slide 

Beauty Pageant

We ran into the other farang in our apartment building whose students gave them a couple big lanterns. The lanterns aspect of Loy Krathong isn't as common in Suphan, but people released them throughout the night lighting up the sky from time to time. Helping send a lantern off was probably my favorite part of the festival and it definitely makes me want to be in Thailand at some point during this same time of year to celebrate in Chiang Mai. I was surprised as a feeling of harmony and joy washing over me as I helped let go of the lantern and watched it fly high into the sky. I was very grateful to still feel a little magic amidst the crowds, the neon lights, and the fire works.

Letting our lantern fly (I took part in the second one, so I am not in this picture)

 Yay for festivals in Thailand!