Nov
24
Loi Kratong in the Village
November 24, 2007 |
Today is Loi Kratong, a celebration held every year around this time when the moon is full. So this evening we again wen’t to the temple, got blessed by the monk in residence and proceeded with floating our kratong.
A kratong is a small float, decorated with flowers and elaborate banana leafs, incense sticks and a candle or two. The whole village was at the Wat tonight, floating their kratongs.
According to wikipedia this is done to:
According to the writings of H.M. King Rama IV in 1863, the originally Brahmanical festival was adapted by Buddhists in Thailand as a ceremony to honour the Lord Buddha. Apart from venerating the Buddha with light (the candle on the raft), the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one’s grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. People will also cut their fingernails and hair and add them to the raft as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of oneself. Many Thai believe that floating a krathong will create good luck, and they do it to honor and thank the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae Khongkha.
Anyway, Nan was busy most of the afternoon making the kratongs for us and the boys. And the ceremony itself was as usual in this village quite informal, with loads of laughs. Especially when Nan’s brother almost fell in the lake as he stepped on a sleeping dog on the bank.
Else we have just enjoyed the day with loads of good food, and candy for the boys.
That’s it!
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Comments
9 Comments so far
Hi Rune,
My girlfriend Ann has been out tonight (probably still is, it is just past midnight in Thailand) celebrating Loi Kratong and earlier a friend was making the kratongs for them. So I decided to do the same in England. I have made my version with leaves (no banana leaves) flowers and candles. Just need some incense sticks now. Later this evening I am going out to float them on a canal. Hopefully the rain here will have stopped! It is a shame because last night there was a perfectly clear moon in the sky. Not tonight I think.
It’s such a beautiful festival, my fav actually. Great photo!
oh,and congrats on getting hi-speed net, I still remember not too long ago going from dial up to ADSL…revolutionized my life!
Yeah it was a very nice evening with loads of laughs.
Rocknrun, I hope it stopped raining so you could float your kratong. And I do know what distance from someone you love is. Hope you get a chance to see her again soon!
Hey Rune. It is a good fun festival and the Thai people really embrace it well.
I am happy that all your Kratongs stayed lit. Here in Ubon it was been very windy and The saying is that if your Kratong goes out of sight and was still alight your wish will come true.
We had trouble just lighting them little only keeping them burning long enough to float them.
It was a good night and a lot of fun. Good to hear about the internet hook up as well. I expect more pictures now!
I’ll try to get more pictures, it’s just a pain in the butt posting them, as I I have to rezize them to make them internet friendly for those with slower connections.
And mom if you are reading this, pictures of the house will come. Nan just wants to sterilize the house before she allows me to take any.
He he…i’m waiting for clean pictures. I stay on the internet until i get some.
It’s midnight here mom, Nan is sleeping allready. So wait until tomorrow.
Following on from rocknrun’s comment; Rocknrun made superb kratongs and went to a lot of effort during the day. He called at my house and we went to the local canal and set them free along with our spirits and wishes. A little piece of Thailand in the industrial north of England. The moon was hiding behind the clouds but at least it didn’t rain (that much). It was a bit of sanuk, thanks and well done RnR.
Hi Rune.We had a brilliant time at Loy Krathong in Wichianburi. The only slight downer was when Nongpraw, my 4 year old stepdaughter, thought the enormous candle used to light the Krathongs was a post and leaned on it. I scalded my hands on the hot wax and broke my camera catching the candle, but I managed to stop it setting fire to the hair of a lady who was crouching down to launch her Krathong.
Blogs like yours help keep me sane in cold wet Yorkshire. I promised Kai I would not go to the pub EVERY night.