Celebrating Loi Krathong

I was lucky enough to be in Chiang Mai during the famous Loi Krathong festival.  Loi Krathong is a festival celebrated annually on the full moon of the twelfth month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar.

"Loi" means to float, and "krathong" means a leaf cup.  On the night of the full moon, Thai people gather near the river to release small, decorated, floating banana-leaf structures.  The Thai people say that this symbolizes the washing away of last year's misfortunes.

Often coinciding with this, or at a very close date is "Yi Peng," another festival where thousands of sky lanterns are released into the sky.  This year, the two events fell at the same time.  During this festival, thousands of Thai people gather at temples, private homes or open fields and release giant lanterns into the night sky.  On the lanterns, many Thai people write their hopes for the future.  

Watching the lanterns float off into the sky is one of the most amazing sights I have ever witnessed...

Some other things I learned: 

Be weary of crowded festivals when you have a slight case of claustrophobia. (I guess I already knew this, but I often forget...)

In the the United States, events are a lot better planned and structured than in Thailand.  When trying to exit the festival and make our way back to our transportation, there were no signs directing people as to which way to walk to get to the exit.  This resulted in complete chaos as people pushed one another, walking in opposite directions, but all attempting to get to the same place.

It's difficult to sit through a 30-minute Buddhist ceremony on your knees, while not understanding one word of what was being said.