Lai Rua Fai

Lai Rua Fai festival or illuminated boat procession is the most famous celebration in the northeast of Thailand. People set lights in boats and floated them along the Meakhong River. It is an aesthetic culture at night that celebrated at the end of the Buddhist Lent or Ok Pansa day. The illuminated boat procession has many interesting activities that make people feel excited.

Lai Rua Fai is a ceremony about Lord Buddha. People respect Lord Buddha when return to the earth after he ascended to heaven to sermonize his mother. Therefore, the local people in this area worship his footprint that marks on the bank of Nimmathanatee River. Furthermore, the celebration is adore the king of serpent who watches over the river and protect people that traveled through water.

Before the day of celebration, people help to make a fire boat together. It made from banana trunk and bamboo. The length at least 6 metre. Make a curved as they needed and decorated with light, lamp, candles, flowers, incense, and offering. Mostly, people often contrive about garuda, serpent, swan. Sometimes they decorate for great honor the king of Thailand. Nowadays, people use a new technology to decorate with light and sound that it made more excited by seeing with spectacular fireboats.

On the day of Ok Pansa, It is a beautiful parade procession around the town. It is full of joyfulness. Children and adults enjoy with music northeast until the night. After that, people kindle a fireboat and float into the river. Inside the exhibition has folk and cultural shows and performance for honor of the king. Highlight of this fastival is contest of Miss Lai Rua Fai that it made people are very interested. When the time, it has a competition of fireboats and people float the lamp and set a fireworks. In addition, people donated clothes and money in the fireboat for pauper who keep the fireboats cleaned.

Lai Rua Fai is set on the night of Ok Pansa annually that a good of opportunite for people in the province and other provinces to join the fun. This festival is a good culture that the people in community help harmonize. Lai Rau Fai is a tradition to show respect to Lord Buddha by Buddhism that interited for long ago and demonstrated knowledge of local people in the sector. It is a great tradition in the northeast of Thailand.

Reference

http://www.thatphanom.com/boat/