Loy Krathong - Festival of Lights

Loy Krathong remains my favorite of Thai celebrations.  A festival of lights making the city of Bangkok light up across the city with fiery lanterns.  The lanterns lighting up the waterways of city is truly a sight to be seen.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to make the activities this year (November 25th) but I wanted to share Loy Krathong photos from the last several years.   ​

Loi Krathong occurs on the evening of the 12th full moon in the traditional Thai lunar calendar and in the Western calendar this usually falls in November. On this day Thais launch their krathong in a river, canal, lake or a pond, making a wish as they do so. The traditional krathong is a floating decoration made from a slice of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant where as the modern krathongs are more often made of bread or Styrofoam. The Thais are moving away from Styrofoam because of the obvious impacts to the environment. Thais are often seen launching the floating lanterns on this day and there is the occasional fireworks making this holiday magical to observe.  The festival likely stems from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits, so important to the survival to the Thais of long ago.

the Loy Krathong Song (in English):

Loi Loi Krathong,
Loi Loi Krathong,
Loi Krathong is here and everybody's full of cheer,

We're together at the klong,
We're together at the klong,

Each one with this krathong,
As we push away we pray,
​We can see a better day. 

Loy Krathong - Festival of Lights (full photo set)