Loy Krathong

The costume

Loy Krathong means “floating lantern.” On the full moon of the twelfth lunar month (also known as November) Thailand becomes a continent covered in candle lit lanterns. The pictures of these floating lanterns are some of the most well known photos of Thailand (Google Image them!!) and this holiday was on every OEGers list of things to experience. There are two types of lanterns for Loy Krathong festival: water lanterns and sky lanterns.  The water lantern is a beautifully crafted conglomerate of banana leaves,orchids, incense and candles arranged on a piece of a banana tree trunk. You can also find lanterns made from glass and some kind of dyed bread dough but the traditional lanterns are the ones based on a slab of banana tree trunk. They come in all sizes and colors and they smell lovely. They are set afloat to honor the water goddess and ask her forgiveness for all transgressions made that year. It is also symbolic of letting all your burdens and woes float away, leaving you in peace. The sky lanterns are made from a white, fragile tissue paper. You light the coil on the bottom and when it fills with enough smoke it floats off into the air, carrying your wishes with it.

About to let our lanterns float

The Loy Krathong festivities went on the whole week. I taught the children the names of all the parts of the water lantern, trying to get them to understand “to float,” which had me running around the room swaying my lantern back and forth while making a swishing noise. They loved this. The full moon was on a Sunday so Friday the school had a mock festival where we all lit our water lanterns and set them afloat in the pool. The teachers dressed Jenna and I in traditional Thai garbs and paraded us around the school. It was really uncomfortable, as every parent wanted their child to have a picture with the farang dressed as a Thai princess. Kids I’ve never taught were tossed in my arms while flashing cameras blinded me. Not my favorite activity but how often will I ever be dressed as a Thai princess everyone wants a picture with.

We found ourselves in a park by the Chao Phraya River Sunday for the real ceremonies. It was beautiful. The river was littered with candlelight while huge boats-turned-floats went up and down the river shooting off fireworks.  We bought two lanterns from a family selling them outside the park and walked to the river. Earlier that week I took the time to write something of a hate letter. It’s contents contained some of the more serious issues I’d recently faced and wanted to let go of. I rolled it up, tied it with a lock of hair (you’re suppose to add hair or a sliver of your nail to your lantern) and tucked it underneath the blue orchids of my lantern. After a fight to get to the banks of the river, S and I placed our lantern on a plate that had a stick attached to it (no joke, this is how you put your lantern in the water.)

“Let go of all your bad,” the man said as he lowered the lantern in the water.

S and I shared this lantern

Watching the lantern float away I was suddenly struck with a very strong feeling. It was somewhere between anxiety (I had been nursing some of these issues a while so I can understand the separation anxiety) and clarity. It was intense and then it was gone leaving me grinning at my own sentimentality.

Strictly speaking, the sky lanterns are illegal in Bangkok. But when I looked up at the night sky it was clear there was no one enforcing this law. In true Bangkok form, we walked all of a minute outside the park before we found a woman selling them on the street. We took our lantern over to a small bridge where others were ushering their wishes up to the sky. The four of us held it as it filled with smoke, took a million pictures, made a wish and then let it loose. The pure glee derived from the juvenile simplicity of letting a lantern carry your dreams to the sky is almost feral in its intensity. And while I can’t tell you exactly what I wished for I’ll only say it has something to do with the day after Thanksgiving and a sea of Red…

The sky was a spectacular sight, like hundreds of stars had just been birthed and were shining bright, moving across a full moon and clear sky. The river lapped against the flames of the lanterns, dragging them down to the bottom of the river along with woes of a city, leaving a person feeling brand new. I wish you all had been there.