I was fortunate to be in Chiang Mai for two major festivals connected to lanterns/light, which both occur at the same on the full moon day of the twelfth Thai Lunar month, this year on the 27th-28th November 2023. Both these festivals are known for creating beautiful displays of lights and take place on the same day. During the lantern festivals in Thailand, you will see two iconic scenes: swarms of sky lanterns flying into the night’s sky — that is Yi Peng Lantern Festival; thousands of lotus-shaped baskets with candles and flowers floating on the rivers at night — that is Loy Krathong Festival.
Loy Krathong Festival is celebrated nationwide while Yi Peng is only celebrated in northern Thailand, especially in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the only place where you can see both Thailand’s lantern festivals on the same da
The Two Moon Day (Yi-Peng) Festival
Yi Peng is a Lanna festival with the largest celebrations held in Chiang Mai (the ancient capital of the former Lanna Kingdom). Yi means ‘two’ while peng means ‘moon day’. It is an annual festival celebrated on the full moon in the second month of the Lanna lunar calendar and usually falls in November. It is believed that Yi Peng originated in India with the legend of the candle-carrying bird that once visited the Gautama Buddha.
The highlight of this festival is the numerous sky lanterns that are released and ‘float’ up into the sky. So Yi Peng is also known as the Thailand Sky Lantern Festival. These sky lanterns are called khom loi in Thai, which means floating lanterns. The release of lanterns is believed to release negative energy and wish for good luck and good fortune in the coming year.
It was not easy to see as the local authorities have forbidden people from doing it due to interfering with air traffic and also being a risk and dangerous. Nonetheless, I had to good karma to see it while near the Ping River, see video reel here.
Festival of Water Lanterns (Loy Krathong)
Loy Krathong is a Thai festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand and in nearby countries with significant South Western Tai cultures (Laos, Shan, Mon, Tanintharyi, Kelantan, Kedah, and Xishuangbanna). The name could be translated as “to float ritual vessel or lamp,” and comes from the tradition of making krathong or buoyant, decorated baskets, which are then floated on a river. Many Thais use the krathong to thank the Goddess of Water and River, Goddess Khongkha (Thai: พระแม่คงคา) or to worship the Holy Buddha’s hair pagoda in heaven in Buddhist beliefs. This festival traces its origin back to India.
Loy Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, thus the exact date of the festival changes every year. In the Western calendar this usually falls in the month of November. In Chiang Mai, the festival lasts three days.
Wat Chedi Luang – a light show and recreating the original ancient stupa
Here are some photos I took of the events. in particular at Wat Phra Sing, where there was a magnificent light show on the old ancient stupa there, recreating the original size and shape of the Chedi, see reel here.
We wrote our names on stones that woild be placed at the top of the stupa and offered candles to the ancient temple too. It was indeed a magical sight to see the Buddhist monks arranging candles on the stairway up to the main gate of it, see photos below.
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