Loy Krathong: Welcoming the Harvest Season, 2002

You've arrived in Chiangmai at the beginning of winter, when the weather becomes cooler, breezier. After the rains, water still flows from the mountaintops into the streams and rivers. This cool season is also known as "Harvest Season". To give thanks for abundant rains and plentiful water sources, the people of Thailand celebrate Loy Krathong this month.

The festival is held on the night of the 12th full moon of the year. This year it falls on the Tuesday 19th of November, 2002. Several days of entertainment and festivities precede the main event.

In Chiangmai, visitors will be treated to an air of festivity in the weeks leading up to Loy Krathong. People begin constructing their Krathong, a small raft to float down the river as an offering. They are traditionally cut in a circular slice from the trunk of a banana tree and decorated with intricate leaf-patterns and flowers.

A candle, incense sticks and a few small coins are typically placed as offerings. Archways of banana stems suddenly appear outside homes and businesses, and hanging lanterns, or Kome, are hung anywhere possible. With their beautiful colors and delicate paper streamers, these lanterns glow with a warm charm in the night, along with yellow flames of thousands of miniature terra-cotta nightlights flickering on walls and gateposts in the city.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS

Although there are conflicting theories on how exactly the tradition began and evolved into its current form, it's generally agreed that is based on the ancient Hindu concept of the Mother of Waters, brought into Thailand by the Hindu Khmers thousands of years ago. In Thailand, the tradition evolved into a kind of harvest festival coinciding with the end of the Monsoon Season and the resulting abundance of crops.

One popular and well-loved story is that hundreds of years ago in the city of Sukothai, one of the King's Ladies in Court (Ms. Noppamas) organized the first Loy Krathong where floating lanterns graced the waterways to pay respects to the River deities. Somewhere down the line people began using the ceremony to honor Buddha as well, and today, decorative lanterns feature flowers and depictions of animals, zodiac signs and Buddha images. Sukothai remains The place in Thailand to see the decorative, glowing floating lanterns on the river.

Over the years, the celebration spread into Cambodia, Laos, southern China and the Shan States of Myanmar (Burma), all of which celebrate with their own cultural flavor. It was not a religious festival despite its Hindu past, and is likely animistic in origin. Nevertheless, many Buddhists have assigned a religious symbolism to the event.

WHAT TO SEE

In Chiangmai, the opening ceremony takes place at Tha Pae Gate at 6 p.m. Monday evening (18 Nov.), followed by a lantern parade contest on Changklan Road near the Night Bazaar. On the other nights, beauty contests are held at Tha Pae Gate, followed by parades, cultural performances and other entertainment. Lanna cultural performances are taking place at the Municpal Offices near the river.

While Kome are put up all over the city, hot-air balloons, or Kome Loy, are set off into the sky during the festivities. Be careful: there are also fireworks, and the locals often set off their own with no rhyme or reason. And there's a lot of drinking, so if possible, stay off the roads those nights.

See the schedule below for a listing of events.