Explore Thailand 2015

Loi Krathong Festival

Loi Krathong Festival is celebrated annually throughout Thailand, and the name translates to 'float a basket', and comes from the tradition of making krathong, or buoyant, decorated baskets, which are then floated on a river.

As you’d expect in a city of 10 million people covering over 50 square kilometres, Thailand’s capital Bangkok is awash with so much colour and excitement you may wonder how they can fit in any more. Well they can.

If you’re here on one special night in November, this city and the rest of the country turn into a mystical fairyland thanks to a mystical festival of light. Held on the eve of the twelfth lunar month, the Thai population gather under the full moon around lakes, rivers and canals to pay their respects to the goddess of water in one of the most picturesque festivals you’re ever likely to see.

For many Thais, Loi Krathong begins at Bangkok’s Pak Klong Talad, open 24/7. It’s city’s biggest wholesale and retail fresh flower market and a sensory overload for any visitor. The market bursts with a pure brilliance of colour and fragrance, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of cut flowers from chrysanthemums, roses, orchids, lilies and more delivered fresh daily. Here you can rub shoulders with Bangkok’s flower growers, florists and during Loi Krathong, a whole lot of the flower-loving public.

Try not to get swept away by these dazzling blooms. I can honestly say I’ve never seen so many cut flowers in one place nor have I seen so many people buying them. Flowers are an integral part of Bangkok’s Loi Krathong Festival as they are the main decoration for a very special offering.

Throughout the market, busy and creative hands are everywhere, stitching saffron-coloured chrysanthemums or deftly folded rose petals into floral garlands—all a special part of making the krathong, the floating basket central to the public’s offering for the Festival of Light. In the lead up the festival, many shops and market stalls will display readymade krathongs, which are a fascination to watch.

Flowers of all types and colour are the main decoration on these offerings along with candles, to be lit at sunset. Locals will spend hours decorating their krathongs, creating the most elaborate and colourful designs from the petite to the very grand. 

From homemade to the ready made, it’s then a wait until sunset to head to the water.

As the sun goes down, people begin to gather in parks and along banks of Bangkok’s rivers and canals, bringing with them their krathongs and their warm, friendly smiles.

The festival always falls on Thai school holidays, so you’ll see plenty of families who’ve been making their elaborate krathongs during the day ready to gently set them on the evening water.

The origins of Loi Krathong date back 800 years, along with paying respect to the River Goddess, these baskets are also symbolic of sending away your problems and getting a new start for the coming year -- a way of floating away your worries. To personalize these krathongs, people put in coins or locks of their hair.

The flame of the candle signifies longevity and fulfilment of wishes and release from sins. As krathongs are paced onto the water, they are often accompanied by a prayer of thanksgiving. Intently watching it float away, all hope their candle will last as long as possible, letting that bad luck be carried away into the distance. This is a Festival clearly special to all Thai people.

Through the sea of floating candles, spectacular illuminated barges of intricate and elaborate designs process along the Choa Prayer River, thrilling onlookers with their pageantry but also their music and barrages of exploding fireworks. Another Loi Krathong magic moment.

Loy Krathong is a big night for lovers. Couples who make a wish together on this day will enjoy long-lasting love, especially if their krathongs remain together on the water.

On nearly every expanse of water in Bangkok and Thailand, be it river, lake or the ocean, hundreds of thousands of lights turn those waters into a drifting, shimmering dream. Gently flickering, dipping and dancing in the breeze as they go.

The Festival of Light, Loi Krathong is a spectacular sight. The one thing most visitors to a new county want is to experience what the locals do. Well on the eve of the 12 lunar month in Thailand you’ve got that very chance.

For more information, visit www.tourismthailand.org