Whatever Floats Your Krathong...

Thursday night marked one of the biggest holidays and festivals in Thailand: Loy Krathong. Many of the foreign teachers here have expressed that this is their favorite holiday in Thailand. For Thais, it’s a celebration to make wishes, give thanks, and let their sins be carried away via lanterns sent into the sky and floating vessels sent on the water. Not knowing exactly what Loy Krathong was about, I kind of followed the lead of a few friends who had been to the festival before. You have to be careful about how and where you light the lanterns, doing it low to the ground and then letting the tissue paper walls and ceiling become full of gas. If you let it go too early, it might come back down to the ground, and that is bad luck. And if it hits a tree or gets stuck somewhere where it cannot continue up and up and up- well, that’s also bad luck. It’s a group effort, everyone holding one edge of the lantern until it is time to release it, and then you watch it ascend and ascend until you lose track of it amongst all the other lanterns in the sky, or until it gets so high in the atmosphere that the air is too thin and it extinguishes. Usually, the former happens first. It was beautiful and joyful, people glowing in candle-lit auras, watching Thai families and couples and groups of friends close their eyes and say silent prayers, then release their lanterns with gasps, oohs and aahs, and a peaceful kind of laughter, the kind that sounds like water moving.

Walking down to the riverbank, I watched families gathering to do the same sort of thing with their krathongs. Some of the other teachers had made krathongs with their students at school, and released them, making wishes as they did so. At the edges of the river, extinguished krathongs found their final resting place, making a bed of color. The whole sight- the lanterns in the sky, the krathongs in the water- was remarkable in its beauty.

After releasing our lanterns and krathongs, we kind of just sat and watched the people around us, the lanterns drifting up in the night sky, the full moon shining so brightly. I kind of looked at it as a release for myself. A perfect closing of a chapter, gathered with people who I have become so close to here. I think for a lot of us, it all meant something just a little different.

What I Have Gathered about Loy Krathong:

Just like so many other important national holidays and events, it is one where the meaning and origin are constantly being misinterpreted and reinterpreted, so the actual truth and significance surrounding the holiday is a bit… convoluted. But it looks beautiful, and it’s a reason to celebrate something, and thus, it is embraced by the Thais. After looking up Loy Krathong extensively using my expert Googling skills, I have decided to simply use information about it that was supplied by one of the students in my journalism club for the November newsletter. And then to supplement and add where necessary other details I have learned about this holiday.

Loy Krathong is celebrated on the full moon of the 12^th Lunar month. This is when the moon is the brightest and the rivers are shining, clear and full from the rainy season. This is when the people pay their respects to the goddess of the water, offering expressions of gratitude by sending Loy (which means “to float”) Krathong (which means "vessel") down the river, filled with money and other offerings to the goddess, Phra Mae Kongka. It is often elaborately decorated with flowers and banana leaves folded in intricate designs. In this vessel, people are also to put their wishes and thoughts for the future. By lighting a candle and sticking incense into the Krathong as it is sent on its way, one is not only ensuring fulfillment of their wishes, but also release from their sins. Lovers also light their Krathongs together and send them on their way, as this will ensure that they stay together forever. If the candle goes out while floating downstream, this is considered bad luck and wishes will not be granted, sins will not be released, and lovers shall not see a happy ending. So, as people release their Krathongs into the river, they watch intently to make sure their candle remains lit. It is said that during the Sukothai era (1238-1438 AD), one of the King’s concubines/wives (there are many differing accounts of what her relationship to him really was), Nang Noppomas, was the first to fashion a krathong and begin this tradition. And others say the tradition originated in India, as a tribute to the Buddha’s footprint found on the edge of a river.

While one tradition is to send off a floating krathong into the water, the other is to send off a lantern into the night sky. Loy Krathong used to be known by a different name- Chong Pa Rieng, and this part of the festival originates from Hindu tradition adopted by Buddhists. It was originally a time to pay respect to Siva, Vishnu, and Brahma. Lanterns would be sent off to the heavens to honor these gods and also Buddha's cremated bones at the second level of ascension. Now, the tradition of the lanterns seems, from what I have seen, to mean much of the same thing as the tradition of the krathongs, the historical significance being left to the wayside.

Either way, it's quite an event, with both the floor and the sky lit up and sparkling quietly. (Except for the firecrackers the kids like attaching to their lanterns, of course...)