Happy Loi Krathong

Loi Krathong is Thailand's most beautiful holiday. It is best known for floating Krathongs in banana leaf cups on the closest river or lake. Each year little Anna would stay up late the night before and then get up early to finish making her own banana leaf cup and Krathong, much like American kids carving a jack-o-lantern and making cookies for Santa all at one time. Then that night as Loi Krathong began, Little Anna would take her banana cup and Krathong to the Chanthaburi River where she and her friends would set them on the river and watch as they floated away with our sins from the past year.



My mom would never go with us. She would always said she didn't have that many sins and wasn't worried about it. I think she just liked having some time to herself which is hard to come by in a house with twelve kids. We were taught that the banana cups would take our sins away because we were Catholics, but Loi Krathong is a Buddhist holiday and so most Thai would say that they are ridding themselves of their "bad luck" by putting it into banana cups.

You can see pictures from last year's Chiang Mai Loi Krathong festival here . Many festivals also feature an illuminated boat procession.

Loi Krathong is soooo beautiful! Many people wear red costumes. Here is a picture of Anna in her grownup Loi Krathong clothes: