Do Your Thing Down By The Ping

LOY KRATHONG, BABY!

Thursday was Loy Krathong, the festival of the water goddess that finishes off the wet season in Thailand.  (Well, I say Thursday, but the fireworks started in my neighbourhood about a week ago, and are still going strong tonight; I think there’s some national law that people can’t stop until the country’s entire supply of fireworks is used up.  Seriously, I’ve seen whole families lining up firecrackers with manic efficiency, like they’ve got an explosions quota.)  Like many elements of Thai Buddhism, this one was imported from India (in this case, about seven hundred years back).  The basic idea is that people gather to honour and appease Phra Mae Khong Kha, the goddess of water, and to symbolically set adrift bad luck or sins from the past year.

There are celebrations all over the country, but the ones in Chiang Mai are particularly famous, for a reason I’ll get to in a second.

First, pictures!

 The view from my front door - check out the candles along the balcony, and also at the edge of the driveway. 

 Trail of candles along the pavement just outside the old city.

I went out for Loy Krathong with one of the VSOs from my office and a handful of her friends, who work at other organisations around Chiang Mai.  We wandered around the banks of the Ping river, which were packed with people floating krathongs (little rafts with burning candles and incense on them).  Most are made of sections of bamboo decorated with flowers and woven banana leaves; others are made of bread, fruit, or even ice-cream cones (which the fish love).  The idea is to make a wish or hold an intention when you let it go; if the candle burns steadily and the raft floats well, then it's a good sign for the future.  Couples often release them together to bless their relationship, and you can also include a lock of hair (to carry away past sins) or a few coins (to get rid of bad luck).

 Krathongs in the moat around the old city.

 Everyone in Thailand floats krathongs for the festival, but in Chiang Mai, they do something extra.  See this?

 It's fire and it flies.  This is the coolest thing ever.

 Chiang Mai is especially known for its floating Loy Krathong lanterns.  They're paper lanterns powered by burning rings of fire (sorry, Johnny Cash) - old-time lanterns used clay pots of burning oil, but eventually that struck someone as oh yeah really freaking dangerous, so now it's a circle of beeswax.  Now we only need to worry about the strings of firecrackers people tie to them. :)

Lantern by the riverbank

... and down by the moat

A lot of the celebrations were going on down in Warorot Market, which is already a pretty awesome place (a huge food/clothing/electronics market about ten minutes down the nearest song tao route from me):

... and there was also a lantern garden just outside Tha Pae Gate, the eastern gate into the old city of Chiang Mai:

I don't even know what he is, apart from ADORABLE.

Oh, good.  I was worried there might be some kind of punishment involved, but apparently not!

There was also a stage set up, with traditional music and dance numbers:

Yeah, this was as close as I could get.

How creepy would it be to look up and see yourself on a screen that size?

Personally, I was digging the more informal musical acts along the moat:

Parade floats!

 So, we ended up buying a whole bunch of lanterns, and a few of us got krathongs as well (mine had orchids, which are one of my favourite flowers, and chrysanthemums, a favourite of my mother's), and we trekked out to one of the local temples, where you could actually climb onto a moored boat and release your krathong over the side.  Buddhist monks with giant candles were also making the rounds, helping revellers light their lanterns and firecrackers.  My camera had died at that point, but a lot of the other women got photos, so I'll see if I can link to them.

Meanwhile, random Loy Krathong prettiness around Chiang Mai:

But this, for me, was the coolest part.  See all the stars in the sky?

No you don't.  It was a completely starless night.  ALL of those are floating lanterns.

Wow.