Recently updated on January 17th, 2020 at 09:56 pm
Once a year, a sea of paper lanterns light up the night skies of northern Thailand. Thousands of people watch their hand-crafted lights float away, as they make wishes for the year ahead and dispel any bad luck. The event is called Yi Peng and believe me, it’s a sight to behold.
The burnt-orange glow of Yi Peng is seen in many northern regions on November’s full moon. The Lanna celebrations coincide nicely with another festival called Loi Krathong, which takes place on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar.
Chiang Mai, where I spent Yi Peng, is renowned for its all-singing-and-dancing festivities. For three days, its streets are bursting with revellers who descend on the city to feast their eyes on colourful parades and floats, with carnival beats and festive cheer sounding long into the night.
While dancers and dragons pass through the streets, the Old Town district is awash with elaborate decorations and an abundance of street food stalls, serving everything from trusty Pad Thai to barbecued crickets on sticks! Many festival-goers stand on the edge of the Ping River to light their lanterns – and it’s also a popular spot for the customs of the Loi Krathong festival a few days later.
During Loi Krathong, or more commonly known as the Festival of Lights, both Thailand’s rivers and skies are aglow, thanks to fireworks, *more* lanterns, and small candlelit floats called krathong. It’s celebrated widely across the country, although many people in Chiang Mai now view Yi Peng and Loi Krathong as one big festival.
Releasing krathong onto the water symbolises the release of bad things that have happened during the past year, and insures a fresh, new start. For many Thai people, the release of the krathong is also a way to honour the Buddha and to thank the Hindu Goddess of Water, for her help in providing the most basic of all human necessities.
School children spend the run-up to the festival crafting krathong out of banana leaves, lotus flowers, candles and incense, to sell on the night. There was certainly no shortage of supply!
A popular place to take in the Festival of Lights is on the Nawarat Bridge above the Ping River in Chiang Mai. I let my krathong float away with my troubles on the mirror-like lake of Mae Hong Son, a far-north village bordering Burma. The lake was looking a little sorry for itself the following day, but fortunately all of the floats are biodegradable!
If you want to experience the magic of Thailand’s Festival of Lights, Trafalgar’s early-November departure of The Secrets of Thailand offers the possibility of free time to soak up the celebrations.