Also called Loi Krathong, festival of floating baskets, Yi Peng (northern Thailand)
On the full moon of the twelfth Thai lunar month, usually in November, people float small decorated baskets called krathong on rivers and ponds. The candle honours the Buddha and thanks the water goddess, and letting the basket drift away carries off anger, bad luck and the year's wrongs.
TraditionThai Buddhist and Brahmanical water festival
RegionThailand, Laos, Shan State, Kelantan, with related festivals in Cambodia and Myanmar
EraPossible depiction on the Bayon in Cambodia, late 12th to early 13th century; Thai court festival; national festival after World War II
Moon○ Full moon
DayMoon
ElementWater
Difficulty●●○ Moderate
TimeAn hour to make, one full-moon evening
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
The working
Build your krathong only from things that break down in water: a slice of banana trunk or a round of bread as the base, banana leaves and flowers, held with wooden pins. Never use Styrofoam, plastic or metal staples.
Fold banana leaves into points and pin them around the rim, then fill the top with flowers.
Set a small candle and three incense sticks in the centre, and add a coin if you wish.
If you want to let go of something, place a strand of hair or a nail clipping in the krathong, as many Thais do to send away past wrongs and anger.
Under the full moon, take it to a pier or pond where floating is allowed. Light the candle and incense, and kneel at the water's edge.
Thank the water for all it gives, ask forgiveness for polluting it, and make a wish. Then set the krathong gently on the water and let it drift away without looking back.
If you cannot reach open water, float it in a large basin at home and compost it the next day.
Take care: Use only biodegradable materials: banana trunk, leaves, flowers, bread and wooden pins, never Styrofoam, plastic or staples. Do not release sky lanterns, which are banned in Bangkok and in many countries. Float from an official pier or calm, shallow edge, keep children back from the water, and do not enter rivers at night.
Versions across time and place
i
Yi Peng in Chiang Mai
Lanna northern Thai festival · Lanna period to present
In the north, Loy Krathong coincides with Yi Peng, when homes and temples are hung with paper lanterns of many shapes. Mass releases of khom loi sky lanterns are now tightly controlled: Bangkok bans them outright, and Chiang Mai airport has cancelled flights because of them. Hanging and hand-held lanterns are the safe form of the custom.
Uses: Khom fai hanging lanterns, Khom thue hand-held lanterns
Recorded in: Loy Krathong (Wikipedia); Yi Peng (Wikipedia)
ii
Bon Om Touk
Cambodian water festival · Still observed
Cambodia marks the same full moon with boat races on the Tonlé Sap, illuminated floats and a salute to the moon. A Bayon bas-relief showing royal women floating offerings on water is often cited as the earliest picture of the custom.
Recorded in: Bon Om Touk (Wikipedia)
iii
Boita Bandana
Odia Hindu festival · Still observed
On Kartik Purnima in Odisha, people float small boats with lamps on rivers and the sea to remember the sailors of ancient Kalinga who traded with Southeast Asia. It falls around the same time as Loy Krathong and shares its floating lamps.
Uses: Boats of banana bark or paper, Diyas
Recorded in: Boita Bandana (Wikipedia)
History
Loy Krathong takes place on the full moon of the twelfth month of the Thai lunar calendar, usually in November. A krathong was first a small leaf container for food; the floating kind is made from banana trunk or spider lily, folded leaves, a candle and three incense sticks. Many Thais use it to thank Phra Mae Khongkha, the water goddess identified with the Ganges. King Mongkut, Rama IV, wrote in 1863 that it was a Brahmanical festival adapted by Thai Buddhists to honour the Buddha.
A popular story credits a Sukhothai court lady called Nang Nopphamat with inventing the krathong, but historians treat that tale as a literary work of the early Bangkok period. The festival was largely a court and Bangkok custom before World War II and spread nationally afterwards. Plastic waste became a problem: in 2016 Bangkok collected 661,935 krathong from its waterways, about 6 percent of them Styrofoam, and many towns now ban foam floats.
