6 Months in Kuala Lumpur: Loi Krathong and Yi Peng

The recent full moon last week was cause for celebration through all of Thailand.

Loi Krathong

In the traditional Thai lunar calendar, the full moon in the 12th month, (usually November), is the time when Loi Krathong is celebrated. According to Wikipedia, "Loi Krathong is often claimed to have begun in the Sukhothai (1238 until 1438), by a court lady named Nopphamat. However, it is now known that the Nopphamat tale comes from a poem written in the early Bangkok period (1760's to 1930's). According to H.M. King Rama IV, writing in 1863, it was a Brahmanical festival that adapted by Thai Buddhists in Thailand to honor Buddha, Prince Siddhartha Gautama."

Furthermore, "Loi means 'to float', while krathong refers to the (usually) lotus-shaped container which floats on the water. Krathong has no other meaning in Thai besides decorative floats, so Loi Krathong is very hard to translate, requiring a word describing what a Krathong looks like such as Floating Crown, Floating Boat, Floating Decoration. The traditional krathong are made from a slice of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant. A krathong is decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, incense sticks, and a candle. A small coin is sometimes included as an offering to the river spirits. On the night of the full moon, Thais launch their krathong on a river, canal or a pond, making a wish as they do so. The festival may originate from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits...The candle venerates the Buddha with light, while the krathong's floating symbolizes letting go of all one's hatred, anger, and defilements. People sometime cut their fingernails or hair and placed the clippings on the krathong as a symbol of letting go of negative thoughts. However, many ordinary Thai use the krathong to thank the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae Khongkha."

The festival is celebrated throughout the community, with many locations set up along the river with stands of seating for watching and launching floats. Traffic is bad in the old City on a good day, so as much as we wanted to view the events first hand, we decided to have our own little celebration a bit closer to home. (Also it WAS a school night!)

This year the full moon fell on Monday, the 18th. Conrad and Vivienne both made floats at school. We waited for night to fall, lit the candles and they launched their floats on our private "pond".

Letting go of negative thoughts. (And no, we did not include fingernail clippings.)

Make a wish.

We paid our own brand of respect to the water spirits by swimming with the floats.

Thank you, Phra Mae Khongkha, the Godess of Water.

Yi Peng

The festival of Yi Peng is held on the full moon of the second month of the Lanna, or Northern Thai, calendar. "Yi" means second and "Peng" means month in the Lanna language. Due to differences in the Thai and Lanna calendars, Yi Peng and Loi Krathong happen in the same lunar cycle. The festival is meant as a time for tham bun, to make "merit", the Hindu and Buddhist versions of kharmic brownie points. "A multitude of Lanna-style sky lanterns or khom loi, literally "floating lanterns", are launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating by through the sky. (Wikipedia) Although difficult to capture with my camera at night, the sky above the rice fields behind our house was beautifully lit with hundreds of pinpoints of light, the floating lanterns.

Later that evening, we celebrated my friend Antoinette's birthday one day early. At the end of the night, another friend provided her with a lantern to launch.