It’s Loi Krathong and the entire population
of Chiang Mai has gone mad. I’ve
always said the Thais know how to party, but this? My understanding is that Loi Krathong – or more correctly
called Mee Ping here in the Lanna Kingdom of the north – started as a gentle
propitiation ceremony for the water goddess, where people placed little bamboo rafts
bearing candles and incense on the river, to take away bad luck for the coming
year, at the time of the full moon.
How this turned into a violent fireworks party where smiling parents let
their little kids light rockets in their bare hands and chuck them across the
river I have no idea. Throw in an
assortment of bangers, any number of much bigger more formal star shells, some
of them aimed directly at the buildings opposite, and thousands of sky lanterns,
so that the sky is filled with moving constellations of orange lights all over
the city, and you get the idea.
Sorry, Lewes, you really have to try harder.
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Health and safety is not the Thais’ strong
point. Having fun is what it’s all
about. To be fair most of the hand
held rockets are tiddlers that fizzle and sputter a few seconds then die; but
you have a few thousand people all simultaneously lighting armfuls of them one
after the other, swinging them round and round by their sticks until they start
to sizzle, then launching them overarm into the air (or often missing and
having them whizz across the street or under the wheels of a car, to great
hilarity). We got into the spirit
of course, and launched our gaily decorated little bamboo raft out onto the
grey waters of the Ping, attempting to piously wish away our bad luck, while
occasionally ducking to avoid a stray rocket. Then we joined the crowds on one of the main bridges and
launched our own sky lanterns.
These are paper and bamboo miniature hot air balloons that have a
paraffin wax cylinder inside that you light, so that the hot air lifts them
sedately into the sky after a minute or two. Another fire hazard of course, as they jostle up amongst the
overhead chaotic live wires and timber eaves of the houses – but it’s all good
fun.
Back for Song Kran next year? This started out as a celebration of
the Thai new year every April, where as a mark of respect for elders a ritual
libation of holy water was gently poured over them by young people. I hear that water trucks and high
pressure hoses are now involved…
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