Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
Loi" means "to float" and a "krathong" is traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk, and decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense sticks. During the night of the full moon, Thais will float their krathong on a river, canal or a pond lake. The festival is believed to originate in an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters.
The Loi Krathong ritual is a simple one. One needs only to light the candles and the joss sticks, make one's wishes and let it float away with the current of a river or a canal.
my krathong
Loi Krathong coincides with the Lanna(northern Thai) festival known as "Yi Peng". A multitude ofLanna-stylesky lanterns(khom loi ), literally: "floating lanterns") are launched into the air. The festival is meant as a time for tham bun , to make merit. People usually make khom loi from a thin fabric, such as rice paper, to which a candle or fuel cell is attached. When the fuel cell is lit, the resulting hot air which is trapped inside the lantern creates enough lift for the khom loi to float up in to the sky.
2 comments:
Fantastic adventures! The closest we ever came to such exotic travels was when we almost climbed Mt. Everest but were overcome by altitude and exhaustion and had to turn back at Hillary Step. Luckily we had an extra Sherpa who was able to guide us back to base camp.
The only other thing we did that exciting was when we took down a charging rhino on the Serengeti with a single shot from a .50 caliber Remington long rifle. We feel sorry for the noble beast but it was either him or us. But seriously, thanks for sharing these stories and pictures of your travel adventures to far and mysterious places. You are brave to have done it!
Karl and Belinda
Fantastic adventures! The closest we ever came to such exotic travels was when we almost climbed Mt. Everest but were overcome by altitude and exhaustion and had to turn back at Hillary Step. Luckily we had an extra Sherpa who was able to guide us back to base camp.
The only other thing we did that exciting was when we took down a charging rhino on the Serengeti with a single shot from a .50 caliber Remington long rifle. We feel sorry for the noble beast but it was either him or us. But seriously, thanks for sharing these stories and pictures of your travel adventures to far and mysterious places. You are brave to have done it!
Karl and Belinda
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