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Fang

4 Stories - 163 Images - 1 Contributors
A procession and competition releasing Fire balloons on Loy Kratong evening at SriBunRuang temple, Fang, Thailand, 02/11/2009. Loy Kratong festival occurs every year during November throughout Thailand, and falls on the full moon day. Celebrations start the day before Loy Kratong day and continue for a few days. Each evening people light fireworks, decorate their homes with candles and lanterns and go to nearby rivers, streams and ponds to float their Kratongs upon the water. In this temple they have a procession led by colourful paper & wood pagodas and dancers perform in traditional costume with candles. The novice monks have a competition to see who can release their Khom Fai fire lanterns and get them to pass through a hoop suspended high above the ground. The Khom Fai are made of fine tissue paper for lightness and a wire frame holds the mouth open and carries the flame block at the centre. The abbot has declared that he will reward each successful Khom Fai to go through the hoop with a prize.

Arts & Entertainment

How one Thai temple celebrates the Loy Kratong festival.

A procession and competition releasing Fire balloons on Loy Kratong evening at SriBunRuang temple, Fang, Thailand, 02/11/2009.

by fabianfred Blandford in Thailand on 02/11/2009

Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy Kratong Festival with traditional dancing. The Children made offerings from Banana trees and leaves, decorated with flowers, which they then floated in the nearby stream. Fang, Thailand, 02/11/2009. Loy Kratong festival occurs every year during November throughout Thailand, and falls on the full moon day. The Rangsee Wittaya School in Fang, Chiangmai province celebrated Loy Kratong festival on Loy Kratong day, 2nd November 2009. The Juniors went in procession to a temple and enjoyed their classmates dancing and sat for a while in meditation before the food they had brought with them was donated to the monks. The seniors stayed behind at school and made Kratong floats for a competition, whilst sitting outside in the shade. These were quite complex and required a team effort. The Kindergarten kids also made Kratongs in class and the teacher took them to a small stream in the school grounds to float them. After kneeling and making a wish they sent them and their troubles sailing away into the distance.

Arts & Entertainment

Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy kratong Festival.

Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy Kratong Festival with traditional dancing. The Children made offerings from Banana trees and leaves, decorated...

by fabianfred Blandford in Thailand on 02/11/2009

Thai Buddhist monks and novices preparing to float hot-air balloons in Chiang Mai as part of the upcoming Loy Kratong festival. Chiang Mai, Thailand, 30/10/2009. Northern Thai culture has always been a bit different from that of Central Thailand, especially in the communities centred around the city of Chiangmai. Here, during the annual festival of Loy Kratong, where throughout Thailand people float decorated Kratong made from the banana tree and leaves, they also float lanterns and balloons in the sky. At many temples in the Chiangmai province the villagers, and often the monks and novices too, make their own balloons and sometimes release them in a spirit of competition to see whose is the best looking or performs the best. The Loy Kratong festival takes place in November each year, and this year the main day is on November 2nd., but the people also go out and set-off fireworks, float kratongs on the water, and release lanterns and balloons for a few days before and after. The large balloons shown in these photos are usually made in temples or schools from tissue paper and are normally square in shape. There is a hole at the bottom which is reinforced with wire. A tail and various special appendages add distinctiveness to the designs. Many hands help out in the process as an electric fan blows air into the hole to inflate the balloon. Then a stick with a petrol soaked rag is set alight and held inside the balloon to heat the air, care being taken to not allow the flame to touch the delicate paper. Finally, the tail is attached and the fuse is lit, and as the helpers release the balloon, the fire-man quickly withdraws his flaming stick. The tail is usually made from a string of firecrackers with additional fireworks and sparklers attached. These explode as the balloon rises. After all the crackers have gone off, the tail unrolls and helps to stabilize the balloon and prevent it from rocking and perhaps turning over, which would lose some of the hot air and cause it to come down prematurely. Some enterprising people carve airplanes from foam which fly down, sometimes with their own smoke trail too. Parachutes can also be released, and the kids run to try and cathch them. The Thai name for these daytime balloons is Khom Loy....... Loy meaning to float. Not to be confused with the fire lanterns called Khom Fai.... Fai meaning fire, which are released at night and carry a flame with them. This temple in Fang district has a large monastic school so the novices compete to produce and release their creations. When I lived in the old city of Chiangmai I used to wake up on the morning of Loy Kratong to the sound of crackling firecrackers as the many surrounding temples released their Khom Loy. The fire lanterns have now gone international, but these daytime hot-air balloons are still mainly a characteristic of Northern Thailand, although the Burmese do something similar - theirs are normally larger and in the shape of animals.

Arts & Entertainment

Khom Loy Thai hot-air balloons

Thai Buddhist monks and novices preparing to float hot-air balloons in Chiang Mai as part of the upcoming Loy Kratong festival. Chiang Mai, Thailand...

by fabianfred Blandford in Thailand on 30/10/2009

02/11/2009 - How one Thai temple celebrates the Loy Kratong festival. - Thailand - A procession and competition releasing...
02/11/2009 - Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy kratong Festival. - Thailand - Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy...
30/10/2009 - Khom Loy Thai hot-air balloons - Thailand - Thai Buddhist monks and novices...
20/04/2009 - Living in No Man's Land - Thailand - The Shan minority of Burma are victims...

Latest News

Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy kratong Festival.

Arts & Entertainment

Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy kratong Festival.

Thai schoolchildren celebrate the Loy Kratong Festival with traditional dancing. The Children made offerings from Banana trees and leaves, decorated with flowers, which they then floate...
by fabianfred Blandford, on 2nd of November 2009
How one Thai temple celebrates the Loy Kratong festival.

Arts & Entertainment

How one Thai temple celebrates the Loy Kratong festival...

A procession and competition releasing Fire balloons on Loy Kratong evening at SriBunRuang temple, Fang, Thailand, 02/11/2009.
by fabianfred Blandford, on 2nd of November 2009
Khom Loy Thai hot-air balloons

Arts & Entertainment

Khom Loy Thai hot-air balloons

Thai Buddhist monks and novices preparing to float hot-air balloons in Chiang Mai as part of the upcoming Loy Kratong festival. Chiang Mai, Thailand. 30/10/2009.
by fabianfred Blandford, on 30th of October 2009
Living in No Man's Land

Society

Living in No Man's Land

The Shan minority of Burma are victims of a little-reported, decades-long civil war with the Burmese government. These photos show Shan, living in a border village. Pictures from Febru...
by fabianfred Blandford, on 20th of April 2009

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