This coming week sees the lovely festival of Loy Krathong where every stretch of water will see people setting their Krathong on its way…

The Festival of “Loy Krathong”, literally the “Festival of Floating Leaf Cups”, has been celebrated in Thailand for over 6,000 years. It is a Buddhist celebration that takes place a few days before and the day of the full moon in the month of November. Loy Krathong is a festival representative of many things.

What is a Krathong? 

Krathong is a Thai term which refers to a piece of banana trunk decorated with flowers, banana leaves, candle and incense sticks. The word Loy means to float in the Thai language. When joined together,  those two terms simply mean the floating banana trunk festival. Modern krathongs are mostly made out of bread or Styrofoam. Because of more awareness regarding pollution and recycling as styrofoam doesn’t decompose many waterways do not allow them.

Bread Krathongs are more environmentally friendly as they are biodegradable and in most cases eaten by fish.

There are many stories regarding how the festival originated. One of the versions is that Thai people have long been closely involved with rivers for ages as Thailand is an agriculture-based country. This means rivers are like their own blood veins. And to show respect to the river, the goddess of the river is called Pra Mae Khongkha…Thai tradition sees the making of a  Krathong to worship and ask for forgiveness.

Thais now also see it as a time to wave goodbye to misfortune, wash away the sins of the past year, and make wishes for the coming year.

Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar, this usually falls in November. The exact date is announced a month before the festival.

It is a lovely festival as each boat and candle is sent with a message, a prayer or a memory and I use this as a way of remembering my dearly departed as many do here…

It really is am an amazing sight… seeing all the little krathongs and the candles floating away…very beautiful…

Many Thais wear their traditional costumes and there are a lot of beauty pageants held around the country…

It is lovely to see that the authorities are urging people not to send the lanterns up but just float sustainable krathongs…or make your own…There are normally many roadside stalls selling these Krathongs so I am hoping to see lots made from bread and banana leaves…or using cocktail sticks or wood posts instead of stell nails which are not only dangerous but do not compost.

Lily with her Krathong all ready to float it on the water…See how pretty the banana leaves look when they are plaited with a flower…

Thank you for reading have a great weekend xx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and well being.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there are now regular columns on my blog this year. It is important that we are mindful of the world we live in…

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a relaxing weekend xx