As a nation, Thailand grew along the banks of its mighty rivers. For centuries, the kingdom’s waterways have provided the Thai people with their staple foods of rice and fish, fuelled by the abundant monsoon rains that have made the land fertile. So it’s little wonder that so many local ceremonies and traditions are water-based – be they intimate family rituals or nationwide celebrations.
The most important festivals of the Thai calendar are celebrated with water. Best known of course, is the Thai New Year celebration of Songkran. For three days, during the hottest month of the year, the kingdom plays host to the world’s biggest water festival. Every town and village hosts a frantic three-day water fight with young and old taking part, as a way of cooling off and coming together. Tourists love the fun and party atmosphere, but for local people, this is a family event. In homes and temples nationwide, people gather to sprinkle sacred water on images of the Buddha as a form of ritual bathing. In Thailand’s mostly rural culture, this is a way of praying for ample rainfall in the growing season to come.
This is also a time to pay respect to family elders. In what’s considered the oldest ritual of Songkran, elders will daub the face and necks of younger participants with a white perfumed powder called dinso pong – this has long been seen as a way of warding off evil, but has also the added benefit of protecting the skin from the sun and even warding off spots – a Thai folk cure that has been passed down the generations.
Later in the year comes Loi Krathong. Held under the creamy full moon of the 12th lunar month, the celebrations are aimed at giving a little back to the water gods, to thank them for their bounty over the year. Banana stalk floats, crewed by incense and orchids are released onto the kingdom’s waterways. As these flowery floats bob out into the current, they take their owners’ wishes for love, fortune and success with them.
The charming festival of Loi Krathong is celebrated in varied ways. In the western province of Tak, the festival is called Krathong Sai, and the local krathongs are made of coconut shells, which are abundant in the area as well as throughout Thailand including popular beach destinations of Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, Phuket, and Ko Chang. These coconut shells are filled with wax and floated out into Tak’s portion of the majestic river Ping. In the northern area of Chiang Mai, Loi Krathong is called Yi Peng and fire lanterns are released so the lights in the sky mirror the candlelit city canals below.
Credit and view full story at TAT News
