Festivals and Wishes

November 17th was the Loi Krathong festival, which revolves around water and happens on the full moon of the 11th month. So we made dinner reservations at a great Thai restaurant on one of the lakes in Sammakorn (our mooban, or village).  Our landlord and neighbor had taken us to this restaurant, as it's owned by his wife's family, and he kindly called to reserve one of the best tables for us.  

Thai people honor the spirits of the water on Loi Krathong. I learned about the festival from Wikipedia and from my 3rd grade students who were making krathongs in Thai class in the week before the festival. 

A krathong is a floating water offering made of stale bread (which can be dyed or wrapped in banana leaves) that usually has a candle, incense, and flowers.  Neil and I picked out a krathong.

Earlier in the week, I tried to persuade one of my students to make me a krathong, but then I found out that it is bad luck (for Thais there are many sources of bad luck or bad karma) if only one member of a couple makes the krathong--I imagine it is even worse luck if you have someone else's child make it for you.

When you release your krathong you make a wish for the next year.

And the fish enjoy the extra bread :)

The Loi Krathong festival coincides with another northern Thai festival, Yee Peng.

Thai people tend to be very inclusive when it comes to religious beliefs.  Thailand is a country, which is 95% Buddhist and yet also embraces other spiritual beliefs and practices that are not related to Buddhism, such as spirit houses.

Tangent:

Spirit houses are often found in private homes and are also located in places of business.  People make daily offerings of flowers, food, and incense to please the spirits of that home or business. Additionally, Thais who are Catholic sometimes have a spirit house dedicated to the Virgin Mary with her statue.  Instead of drawing lines between religions and beliefs, Thais often connect them instead. 

This is all to say that, despite the fact that we are in the south of mainland Thailand, residents of our neighborhood were also celebrating Yee Peng.  Though compared to Chaing Mai, and other areas in the North, our local celebration was quite small. 

Throughout dinner we watched lanterns float up in the sky from the other side of the lake, from other lakes a few kilometers away, and from the restaurant's dock.  This adorable family released a lantern that hadn't burned for quite long enough yet, and it floated into the lake instead of over it. On second attempt, their lantern launched successfully. 

The sky was also punctuated with fireworks from near and far, and we saw lanterns with fireworks attached. They looked like jellyfish floating through the sky.  We opted for the basic lantern model.  With patience and a few close calls from the wind, we released our lantern which floated over the lake and past our neighborhood, carrying with it our wishes for next year.