Last night was the first full moon in the twelfth month of the traditional Thai calendar, and that means Thais everywhere celebrated Loy Krathong. A krathong is the flowery sculpture Evie's holding in this picture.
Evie made hers at school in the traditional way, using a disc cut from a banana tree as the base. The base is decorated with folded palm or banana leaves and flowers, and then incense sticks and candles are added to the top.
On Loy Krathong, everyone floats (Thai word is loy) the krathongs with lit candles and incense. The idea is that the krathong carries bad luck or negativity away from you, while the incense and flame carry your prayers and wishes into the air.
We participated in our neighborhood's Loy Krathong festivities and launched our krathong on the lake near the kids' school. Evie liked her school krathong too much to float it away, so we bought one of these krathongs made of bread. I took this picture to show off the gorgeous Thai costumes and jewelry people were wearing.
Since we don't own any traditional Thai clothes yet, Evie and Samuel went in Indian costume. Close enough, right? Here are Evie and her two besties, Emma and Emily ... and Samuel. Johnny is being very middle school-ish these days and refused to change out of his school uniform for the evening.
Family photo by the pool. I have no idea why Samuel is grimacing in all of these photos ...
Krathongs floating on the lake ...
One Thai family came with krathongs made of ice cream cones. Genius! I want to do that next year.
Evie and Johnny getting ready to set ours afloat. Samuel has developed a crazy fear of candles, so he stood well back.
(Please note the two guards helping kids launch their krathongs. That is to avoid disasters like this one, survived last night by good friends of ours who chose to forego the party and launch krathongs on their own. Warning: Watch this only in a place where you are free to laugh loud and long. Turn on the subtitles for the full effect.)
During Loy Krathong, you see these giant lotus krathongs everywhere. I drove by one of the klongs (canals) today while taking Samuel and some friends to the science museum, and these krathongs were floating every few feet. Our neighborhood had this one smack in the middle of the swimming pool.
We watched traditional music and dance performances while we ate dinner. Thai dance heavily emphasizes hand movements, and the dancers are able to bend their fingers far backward. We noticed this in Cambodia, as well, in today's dancers and also in the stone carvings of dancers around ancient Angkor. I'll have to research what makes hand and finger movement so important.
Evie, Emma, and Samuel were inspired by the music ...
The Thai music is heavy on percussion and flute. There were all kinds of hand drums and a couple of huge wooden xylophones. The flute was a small wooden one, sort of like pan pipes from South America.
More from the peanut gallery ...
Krathongs filling the lake as the evening wore on ...
Evie and Johnny showing off the loot they won at the game booths ...
There were fireworks, too, but we were having meltdowns by around 8 p.m. and chose to get home and to bed. So that was our first Loy Krathong. We think we might get all native and head to a riverside next year. We'll see. This was a lovely night, though.
Evie made hers at school in the traditional way, using a disc cut from a banana tree as the base. The base is decorated with folded palm or banana leaves and flowers, and then incense sticks and candles are added to the top.
On Loy Krathong, everyone floats (Thai word is loy) the krathongs with lit candles and incense. The idea is that the krathong carries bad luck or negativity away from you, while the incense and flame carry your prayers and wishes into the air.
We participated in our neighborhood's Loy Krathong festivities and launched our krathong on the lake near the kids' school. Evie liked her school krathong too much to float it away, so we bought one of these krathongs made of bread. I took this picture to show off the gorgeous Thai costumes and jewelry people were wearing.
Since we don't own any traditional Thai clothes yet, Evie and Samuel went in Indian costume. Close enough, right? Here are Evie and her two besties, Emma and Emily ... and Samuel. Johnny is being very middle school-ish these days and refused to change out of his school uniform for the evening.
Family photo by the pool. I have no idea why Samuel is grimacing in all of these photos ...
Krathongs floating on the lake ...
One Thai family came with krathongs made of ice cream cones. Genius! I want to do that next year.
Evie and Johnny getting ready to set ours afloat. Samuel has developed a crazy fear of candles, so he stood well back.
(Please note the two guards helping kids launch their krathongs. That is to avoid disasters like this one, survived last night by good friends of ours who chose to forego the party and launch krathongs on their own. Warning: Watch this only in a place where you are free to laugh loud and long. Turn on the subtitles for the full effect.)
During Loy Krathong, you see these giant lotus krathongs everywhere. I drove by one of the klongs (canals) today while taking Samuel and some friends to the science museum, and these krathongs were floating every few feet. Our neighborhood had this one smack in the middle of the swimming pool.
We watched traditional music and dance performances while we ate dinner. Thai dance heavily emphasizes hand movements, and the dancers are able to bend their fingers far backward. We noticed this in Cambodia, as well, in today's dancers and also in the stone carvings of dancers around ancient Angkor. I'll have to research what makes hand and finger movement so important.
Evie, Emma, and Samuel were inspired by the music ...
The Thai music is heavy on percussion and flute. There were all kinds of hand drums and a couple of huge wooden xylophones. The flute was a small wooden one, sort of like pan pipes from South America.
More from the peanut gallery ...
Krathongs filling the lake as the evening wore on ...
Evie and Johnny showing off the loot they won at the game booths ...
There were fireworks, too, but we were having meltdowns by around 8 p.m. and chose to get home and to bed. So that was our first Loy Krathong. We think we might get all native and head to a riverside next year. We'll see. This was a lovely night, though.
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