Cathy and Gary's South East Asia Travel Pages
LOY KRATHONG FESTIVAL
Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month during November and it is one of Thailand’s most beautiful festivals, it is also known as The Festival of Light and this year the festival falls on Friday November 23rd 2018.
It is believed that Loy Krathong started during the 13th century in Sukhothai as a ritual to pay respect to the Goddess of Water and to show gratitude for the abundant use of water and to also ask for forgiveness in polluting the waters.
Loy means to “float” and Krathong means a circular object decorated with banana leaves, flowers, incense sticks and a candle. Some Thai’s also put in finger nails or hair for luck.
So, floating these Krathongs is sending away bad things and asking for good luck in the future.
Couples also like to float Krathongs together to predict their romantic future, depending on which way the Kratong floats away and it is also a good time for strengthening relationships within the family.
Changing times have also added in beauty pageants, fire balloons, firework displays and more and more Krathong are being made from Styrofoam etc, so they are doing more damage to the environment including the many fire balloons that are released.
So, if you are buying your Krathong make sure to buy from stalls using biodegradable materials such as vegetables, paper mache, leaves etc.
Loy Krathong is a beautiful Festival and celebrated everywhere over Thailand.