The Krathong are traditionally made from cut sections of bamboo, with neatly folded pieces of banana leaf around the edge, giving the appearance of a lotus leaf. Each must be decorated with a candle, an incense stick, and some flowers, though many are more elaborate. Often some grains of sand and good luck charms are placed on the Krathong, and a few coins are often added; though these usually end up as some young boy's extra pocket money. At home in the water, they swim from Krathong to Krathong and a little brown hand gropes around for what it may contain. These days the convenience and buoyancy of Styrofoam have largely and, unfortunately, replaced traditional materials, as they litter bank and shoreline for weeks after the event.
This year, 2008, the Loy Krathong festival is from November 8 to 13. In Chiangmai, there are raft races on the river on the first day, and boat races for the next two days. The Yee Peng opening ceremony takes place at Tha Pae Gate early on the first evening, followed by a lantern parade and contest at the Night Bazaar. Beauty contests will be held at Tha Pae Gate on the second and last evenings, and parades of individual Krathongs and giant Krathongs start from there on the second and third evenings. Every night, there will be fireworks, Kome Loy launchings, Lanna cultural performances at the Municipal Offices near the river, and, of course, there is nowhere better to loy your own Krathong.
Click on the photo (right) or the text to see the video as we went down to the Ping River in Chiang Mai Thailand for the Loi Krathong Festival around dusk. We purchased food from vendors a waited for it to get dark. More and more people arrived to float krathongs and shoot fireworks. We left around 9 PM as it was getting too crazy with people and fireworks. The water parade starts around 10PM, The Land parade starts around 6:30 on the road next to the river. Next year we will video the land parade. We went home and toured our neighborhood, lit candles, launched Khome Loi ate and drank with our Thai neighbors.
Tradition has it that the very first Krathong was made by a beautiful young lady at the royal court of the ancient Kingdom of Sukhothai some 700 years ago. Her name was Naang Noppamart, and she was blessed with great artistic skills. Others imitated her and there was a competition on the night of the 11th full moon of the year. The king judged the competition. Naang Noppamart's talents were repaid as her Krathong was declared the clear winner. The king decreed that henceforth this one night of the year should become a festival of thanks and should be celebrated by the floating of boats in the shape and form of lotus leaves. The legend lives on and the beauty queen selected at each of the Loy Krathong celebrations around Thailand is, to this day, the winner of the Naang Noppamart parade.
Dating back to ancient days, the decorative ceremony of lanterns was based on Brahmin beliefs, or Brahmanism. At this ceremony, the people of long ago paid respect by worshipping three different gods. These gods were Pra I-Suan, Pra Narai, and Pra Prom. For this reverent ceremony, the candles used to light up the lantern were made from cow's fat or a wax that came from within the royal gates of the reigning monarch. Usually these candles were made by a Brahmin priest, and of course, the process of making the candles strictly followed the requirements of a Brahmin ceremony.
Formerly, lantern decorations were commonly seen hanging on all mansions in the grand palace. The great numbers and the beauty of the lanterns reflected the status of the royal family members. (Next to the king, the titles of royalty were Jow Fah, Pra Ong Jow, Mom Jow, Mom Rajawong, and Mom Luang). There were also three classifications of lanterns, which were the Kome Chai, the Kome Pra-Tiab, and the Kome Boriwan.
Up until the present time, a tradition developed wherein people sacrifice their time to design and assemble various kinds of strong, beautiful, and creative lanterns. The worshippers donated the lanterns to the temples, asking their wishes to be fulfilled. Usually the person would say a prayer requesting his desire to be a sharp, brighter, and more clever person in the future. This belief is based on the comparison that a bright light would lead a person out of his present darkness into a lustrous future.
As mentioned earlier, these lanterns were devoted to the three different gods. The lanterns were also presented to high ranking officials and wealthy people. It is then interesting to understand why Komes were so presentable and how these lanterns are made. The main structure of these lanterns are usually made with bamboo and covered with a coarse palm paper or cloth. Inside, a bamboo cylinder was necessary to protect the possible burning of the paper, since, altogether, 24 candles were required to light up the lantern. This large number of candles made illumination possible for about three hours. Candles were not always used to light these lanterns. Oils, such as sesame seed, castor, or coconut oils, were also used. The creation of these lanterns is open for the public to see and study at Chiang Inn Plaza during this festival.
People thought that lanterns could only be lit during Buddhist holidays or ceremonies, but, actually, lanterns can be lit every evening or night. These lanterns can be hung on gates, fences, doors, windows, or the roof, or any place an individual wants to adorn with these delightful creations.
There have been four different purposes for the northern Thais to hang lanterns. They are for beauty, to pay respect to Buddha images, to make one's home or mansion brighter, and for propitious purposes.
Nowadays, there are four traditional Komes in the north that attract visitors every year. They are 1) Kome Thuea (carrying lantern) or Kome Gratai (a rabbit's ear), 2) Kome Kwaen (hanging lantern), 3) Kome Paad (revolving lantern), and 4) Kome Loy (hot air floating lantern).
Continued in Part Three