Loy Krathong

On Wednesday at Fashion ,we had the party for Loy Krathong where we had a crafts class on how to make Krathong, the banana leaf and flower boats. The festival itself was last night and it is absolutely beautiful. Nadia took me and another teacher, Ben, to the night market by the river where everyone flocked to buy and make Krathongs and set them into the canal. The festival itself is to thank the River God as well as apologize for any bad things that people have done to it. So everyone builds beautiful boats and says some prayers then leans over and puts their krathong in the canal to float on. Some are made of bread so the river fish can eat them, others made of plastic, but most are made of the banana trees. Before the entrance, people were buying lanterns and lighting the middle, making wishes, and letting them float into the sky. It was beautiful. Me, Nadia, and Ben all released a lantern and made a wish for the new year.

 

We didn't buy any krathongs since we'd made them earlier in the week, but we watched as hundreds gathered to set their boats in the river with hopes of a better year ahead. Nadia told me how some people put a bit of money on the boats for the River God and in the morning, children are reaching into the canals grabbing the coins and taking them. Oddly enough, when leaving around 12:30am, there were two men in a seemingly sinking canoe/boat that were picking up peoples Krathongs and taking out the coins. I found this extremely odd, as everyone could see them and it's a pretty big loss of face. Everyone was shooting off sparklers and some were shooting off serious fireworks and they exploded over the bridge with all the boats lighting up the river underneath. Young Thai couples would make boats with love written on them or in hearts, ya know all the adorable shit. But it actually was quite cute. Overall it was a really good night and I'm really glad I got to be a part of such a gorgeous festival.