Loy Krathong has been the most romantic festival of Thailand, especially in modern times.

Almost without exception, young lovers will go out in pairs to spend the evening together, floating their special Krathong and saying silent prayers.

The Krathong are very special boats made from banana leaves that hold little offerings and lighted candles.

This is an evening for walking from place to place while watching people enjoying themselves.

Often you will see groups of people singing and dancing, beating drums and striking cymbals.

If you are in Phuket as a foreign visitor and are not engaged this evening, you are invited to go out to the nearest beach for a wonderful experience.

Loy Krathong is for you too.  Krathong are available from local vendors so you and your friends can share in the experience.

Welcome to Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong has traditionally been held on the full moon day of the 12^th lunar month.  Ancient Thais had very good reasons for their choice of the date as this is when the rainy season had ended but the Central Plains area was still flooded by water from upstream and water was everywhere. 

The peasants, who constituted a great majority of the population needed to wait for the floods to go down so they could harvest their crops and therefore had plenty of free time. 

As the weather now turns dry and cool and the full moon is now so bright, the time, the place and the people are all just right for the celebrations of
Loy Krathong.

This tradition has been observed for no less than 700 years since the Sukhothai period (1238-1438). According to a written account, Nopphamat, a lady of the Sukhothai Court, made the first Krathong in the shape of a lotus, and presented it to the king for the 3-day royal ceremony held to observe the festival. 

The King was so much impressed by the exquisiteness of the Krathong and the gift of its maker that he praised the lady profusely and ordered that on future occasions lotus shaped Krathong be made after the fashion of Lady Nopphamat’s handiwork.

The word Loy means to float and Krathong means a receptacle traditionally made of banana leaf and used for holding food, flowers and other offerings. 

SoLoy Krathong simply means to float such vessels on water, filled with flowers, lighted candles and joss sticks. 

This is done either as a thankful giving and worship to the Goddess of Water, or as a kind of homage paying to the legendary footprint the Buddha left on the bank of the River Narmada in India.