Day 6 - 8 Loy Krathong (Loi Kra - tone)

In Thailand each year they celebrate the Loy Krathong festival on the last full moon night of the 12th lunar month which happens to be November 11 - 13th. It is the Thai way to offer their thanks and offerings to the Mae Khong Ka (or the Mother of Rivers) since they depend on the rivers for survival. The people float these beautiful Krathongs made of fresh flowers, candles, and incense down the river to remove all the bad luck.

I was fortunate to be in Thailand during this 3 day celebration, because it was one of the most spectacular events I have been to in my life. All the houses, shops, restaurants, and hotels decorated with lanterns of all shapes and colors. On the second night I went down to the river with some friends to float my Krathong (see picture). We heard that it was good luck to put a couple baht, a piece of hair, and fingernail clippings into the Krathong for good luck, but I just stuck with the baht!! The smell of incense filled the air along the river filled with thousands of the Krathongs.

The other feature of the festival is not only the lanterns along the buildings and streets, but the hot air lanterns in the sky. These are lanterns that have a kerosene flame like a hot air balloon and when it gets hot enough the people can release them into the sky. When you look up into the sky at any given time during the festival there are hundreds of thousands of red flickering stars in the sky floating off into the mountains. It is truly an indescribable scene. (The video shows some lanterns being released).

Each night of the festival there was a parade that featured floats with men and women in their traditional costumes carrying lanterns. Firecrackers are also a big part of this festival. All firecrackers are legal here, so people are constantly setting them off down by the river on the bridge. You actually have to be carefully because the streets are packed with thousands of people each night (all night) and they don't really care where they throw the firecrackers in the crowd or in the air. This starts at dusk and does not end till about 3 am. Unfortunately, pictures and video won't do this blog justice!

*** Check out more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jglesne/LoyKrathong#