It’s Loi Krathong all over Thailand right now.
Central to the festival ritual is the making and floating of Krathong: little floral rafts that you place into the river or sea.
Focus Gallery Cafe , here in Chiang Mai, ran a Krathong making workshop yesterday. Anna and I went along and made us a couple of beauties!
1. Start with a section of green banana tree wood, and a big pile of fresh banana leaves.
2. Cut a circular piece of banana leaf, and tack it to the section of wood.
3. Tear up a whole lot of banana leaf into pieces about 50mm wide.
4. Now the tricky bit. Fold those strips of banana leaf, origami style, into little petal-like points, and tack them onto the wood in a ingenious floral motif. Got that..? That’s it, nice and neat. Quickly! It’s getting dark.
5. OK. Time to get creative. Grab a heap of flowers, candles, incense, firecrackers, whatever you can get, and decorate that thing like you’re Liberace’s costume designer.
6. Take a quick selfie with your creation.
7. You’re done. Time to head down the river bank and launch those babies!
Don’t worry. Even if you decide to transport your Krathong like I did (above) no-one will think you look odd. What with the big fashion show, the dance extravaganza, and the street parade there are at least 100,000 people in town who look weirder than you do.
8. Last step. Fire up the candles and firecrackers etc, and set your Krathong afloat.
Off they go. Floating away on the gentle current of the Ping River. It’s a really nice participatory ritual, watching your little artwork join the others and become part of a waterborne light show that carries on all night long all over Thailand.
Of course, some people, like monks, really get carried away and make everyone else look a bit lazy…
Oh shit! I almost forgot the best part. Loi Krathong isn’t just about floating, it’s also about flying. Every night, everyone, all over Chiang Mai, is releasing flying paper lanterns. You light the big candle underneath, and they rise gracefully into the air, bouyed by hot air. Some of them crash-land and set fire to cars, but they look amazing, and by ten o’clock, the night sky is lit up with drifting constellations.
It’s good to have a local, like Anna, to help you with the lighting. Burned fingers.
Happy Krathong!
(Below: Anna lighting our Khom Loi (flying lantern) at the Loi Krathong festival in Thailand. This photo is available as a greeting card or a poster, in the Print Shop.)
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