Loi Kratong is a festival celebrated on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, which usually falls in November in our western calendar and took place last weekend in Chiang Mai. “Loi” means to float. “Krathong” is a small raft about a 5-6" in diameter made from a section of banana tree trunk and decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, thousands of loi kratong are released on rivers around the country. The festival was originally for honoring the Buddha with light (the candle on the raft) and thanking the life-giving Goddess of Water. The act of floating away the raft is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and mistakes, so that one can start life anew in the coming year.
The Thai tradition of Loi Kratong is celebrated throughout Thailand, with the festivities in Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya being particularly well-known. There are a LOT of fireworks, especially of the noisy kind, at least in Chiang Mai, that went on well into the wee hours both Saturday and Sunday nights. There were also many hundreds of lanterns released around the city - for many hours the night sky was filled with them as it is at New Year celebrations.. . .once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. . . the mind can never break off from the journey. — Pat Conroy
