Loy Krathong Festival

Loy Krathong is one of Thailand’s most colorful festivals; celebrated every year on the night of the full moon in November. A krathong is a floral float usually the size of a dinner plate. By floating a krathong, supposedly filled with all one’s bad luck accumulated during the past year, down a klong, river, or any waterway, Thais believe that the bad luck will float away and good fortune will fill the coming year.

With cooler weather, the rivers brimming with fresh water at the end of the rainy season, and the harvesting of rice about to begin, northern Thailand celebrates the Loy Krathong Festival especially enthusiastically. In Chiang Rai, even days before the festival begins, fire crackers can be heard everywhere. That evening, a festive parade of giant krathongs is held down the main thoroughfare with spectators lining both sides of the street. Many communities compete for the best-designed float, and for their prettiest girl to be chosen as Miss Krathong.

Among the most popular waterways in Chiang Rai, one favorite spot is Chiang Rai Beach located by the Kok River that flows into the Mekong River, but all riverside hotels and resorts organize special Loy Krathong dinner parties for guests to float their krathongs. The climax of the celebration is the lighting of a different kind of float—the hot-air lanterns called “Krong Fai” that float up through the night sky by the thousands.