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Loy
Krathong
A great celebration in Thailand
and surrounding countries. Last week of October and the first 3
weeks of November form the so called ‘twelfth moon-month’. In Thai
they call it: duan sipsong
.
This time of the year is Na Naam, the high water season. Often
floods occur in many parts of Thailand, also in Bangkok. When the
rain is over, the weather is beautiful, the sky is blue and the
temperature shows about 25 degrees.
This is the time that at
fullmoonsnight, the 12th moon-month, the Loy Krathong
festival is celebrated. ’Loy’ literally means:floating.and a
‘Krathong’is a little boat, made from different materials in a form
of a lotusflower. Normal the lotusboat contains a candle, 3 sticks
of incense, flowers and some coins (preferable 9 coins, because Thai
believe this number brings a man luck). After Thai new year:
Songkran 13th of April, this is the most important
festival in Thailand.
The celebration starts at
fullmoonnight. Sometimes a few nights before and after. People go to
the banks of the rivers, canals, lakes and even to the seashore to
set alight the candles and incense sticks so that they can launch
their krathong .
One believes the longer the
candle burns, the longer lasts your luck in the next year.
Lovers/couples often launch their boats together at the same
time. The longer they sail together, the longer and more beautiful
their relationship will be. Some couples smuggle by connecting the
two boats with a little string.
In most provencies outside
Bangkok fancy firework is lighten off and hundreds of koomlais are
lifting off. Koomlais are paper balloons with a candle underneath.
Together with the kratongs on the water, this gives a sparkling
night.
During the festival the radio
and television constantly play the Loy Kratongh song. In many places
there is a ‘Nang Noppamas’ competition (see history). Local beauty’s
compete to become the local ‘Nang Noppamas’. In most places parades
are held in which groups of students, pupils or policemen built huge
kratongs to launch. Finally these kratongs will be judged.
Finally it is not necessary to
build a kratong by yourself. You can buy them everywhere in the
street huts, small and huge ones.
Mainly in the north provinces,
around Sukhotai and Chiang Mai, people have more days festival and
make a lot of work from it. This event attrackts people from all
over Thailand.
Since the end of 90th Bangkoks governors
tried all to reduce the launch of the kratongs. The koomlais fall
down to earth and sometime give damage to the high-tension cables or
transformers. Costs of cleaning are extremely high and more people
went to use plastics for their kratongs instead of natural
materials. For these reasons the koomlais and kratongs not made from
natural materials now are forbidden in Bangkok. However, all these
actions hardly have any effect. Thai people still goes on launching
their kratongs
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ENGLISCH
Reservations:
Tel. + 66 (0) 53 419005
or + 66 (0)