Loy Krathong and the Yi Peng Festival

Once a year Thailand celebrates Loy Krathong and the Yi Peng festival. Lucky for us, our timing allowed us to be a part of it, and even better- in Chiang Mai, where the crowd celebrating is massive. Between preparation and the latecomers, the three day festival lasted nearly two weeks.

Loy Krathong and Yi Peng festival are two separate entities that coincide with the full moon. For Loy Krathong, many people send handmade floating 'krathongs' down the Ping River in order to pray to the river god. The baskets were handmade from either flowers and leaves or the more fish friendly empty ice cream cones and small cakes- all beautiful. Yi Peng is also known as the Lantern Festival or the Festival of Lights. Thousands of people each night send all their negativities away on floating hot air balloon-like lanterns into the night sky. The river docks were weighed down with masses of people gently placing their baskets into the river and the streets were filled with local people waiting as their lanterns fill with enough hot air to be carried away, and finally watching them soar. As it turns out, praying to the Thai river gods didn't seem especially relevant to Nate or me, but sending away all the negativity from this year? Bring it on! So instead of sending our food baskets down the river, we ate. And then bought a lantern to send off.

After our lantern drifted out of sight, we stayed on the bridge for a while soaking in all the excitement. We watched a Thai couple as they released their first into the sky, and shortly after they gave their second to us. What a generous pair! In retrospect, it may have been because we stared in awe for nearly five minutes as their giant lantern filled and they probably thought we needed something better to do than creep on Thai folk. But I think I'll just attribute it to their generosity.

After a while we removed ourself from the hustle and bustle of the bridge and sat on the less crowded side of the river to watch the commotion from afar. Nate set up his camera for some time lapse action and I played with some local kids who shared their fireworks (so I guess not THAT far from the commotion). The boys showed me how to swing the fireworks around let go right before they shoot off in whichever direction they choose. I'd like to think that the people here really give it their best attempt to light the country on fire, but to no avail. I may have caused a minor injury to one pedestrian, which is when I walked away from the fireworks. 

The days surrounding the festival were filled with things to do too. A few days before the release we stopped by this tunnel of colorful lanterns at a nearby temple where we watched some bands play traditional music, watched kids pour their own wax candles, and saw Thai women teaching foreigners to make their own handheld candleholders. Every night there was a parade weaving around the town full of bands, exquisite floats, and  hopeful contestants in the beauty pageant. The streets of Chiang Mai were flooded with people and intricate decoration

.

The night after we released some more lanterns with some monks at a temple in town. 

While the lanterns floated each night, fireworks shows surrounded the city which added even more festive noise to that surrounding us. Thousands of people flowed through the streets, all with giant smiles.

The festival did not end abruptly. While we partook in the fun on the busiest 'official' nights, we continued to watch sparse groups of lanterns trail through the sky from our apartment window across town for most of the following week. Its never too late to say goodbye to some negativity in a positive way, right? All in all, by far one of the best weekends we spent in Chiang Mai and a once in a lifetime experience.