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Loy Krathong
at Tak

November welcomes the coming of winter with cool breezes and full rivers flowing. It’s also the time for the famous Loy Krathong festival, which provides a strong link between the people and their rivers. The Loy Krathong festival originated, and first became famous, in Sukhothai province, while Chiang Mai, as another province, has its own unique way of celebrating and worshipping the river. However, there is third province not so far away which has its own unmissable and very special way of celebrating Loy Krathong, and that’s Tak province.

Other provinces may float their krathong (banana leaf vessels) onto the river individually but in Tak people use half coconut shells filled with wax and then lit like a candle. They then release hundreds of the lit coconut shells, one by one down the river, making a very scenic picture as the krathong float away in a sparkling line downstream. Tak province has a very popular dessert, Sai-Miang which is a deep-fried coconut mix, with simmered sugar, served with tea leaves. Not surprisingly there are many coconut trees in the area and more than enough to use in place of the traditional banana vessels.

The original location of the Tak Loy Krathong Sai (sai means line) is Baantak district. The villagers there dress beautifully to join a procession, carrying their krathong (in this instance the half coconut shell) to the Ping River. They then work together to create the big leading krathong which is made from banana stems, and decorated with flowers, incense, candles, cigarettes, fruits and many other things. After that the elders of the village will ask for forgiveness of the river, apologizing for having abused and exploited it in the past year, and then launching the leading krathong onto the river.

To launch a coconut shell krathong requires more effort than you might expect. Firstly, all coconut shells must be filled with wax or have a candle placed in it. When everything’s prepared and the time is right, one group of people light each krathong, one by one, and another wades into the river to release them. This must be done quickly and continuously, so that the floating krathong make a line of lights as they are carried away. Eventually, thousands of krathong are passing through the darkness down the river.

Krathong Sai is popular and widely practiced in many areas, having spread throughout the whole of Tak province, with many other celebratory activities like a krathong contest, a procession through the town, and the decoration of the buildings throughout the town with wax lights.

Even though Tak is a small province, it draws a lot of tourists to the Loy Krathong festival every year.

To get to Tak from Chiang Mai, you can take one of the buses that leave the Arcade bus station Tak-bound every hour. The journey from Chiang Mai takes about three hours.

For more information, contact the Tak municipality office, Tel: (055) 518 888; TAT Tak, Tel: (055) 514 341/3

Text : Mario
Images: Tak Municipality