12 Festivals in Thailand That You Must Experience
Usually, mentioned as ‘the Land of Smiles, Thailand is famous for the welcoming and cordial temperament of its culture and people. Rich festivals, magnificent temples, and many more are interlarded in and about busy cosmopolitan cities, echoing the multifariousness of landscapes and lifestyles. Thailand is abundant in rich tradition and piousness. It is profoundly inspired by ethnic groups from India, Cambodia, China, and Southeast Asia. Thailand has been designated as the fifth best country for cultural heritage impact in 2021, according to a recent story by New York-based CEOWORLD magazine.
There is not just one thing in Thailand which you can talk about, and that would be it! Usually, mentioned as ‘the Land of Smiles, Thailand is famous for the welcoming and cordial temperament of its culture and people. Rich festivals, magnificent temples, and many more are interlarded in and about busy cosmopolitan cities, echoing the multifariousness of landscapes and lifestyles. Thailand is abundant in rich tradition and piousness. It is profoundly inspired by ethnic groups from India, Cambodia, China, and Southeast Asia. Thailand has been designated as the fifth best country for cultural heritage impact in 2021, according to a recent story by New York-based CEOWORLD magazine. There is not just one thing in Thailand which you can talk about, and that would be it! Let's see what are the 12 Festivals in Thailand you must experience.
What are the festivals in Thailand?
We cannot just put every- single thing on this one page, so for a better start-up, let us go with the List of Festivals In Thailand that you must experience. Here are the top 12 festive celebrations, or you can say traditional festivals, on the list, which you are going to love it!
SONGKRAN
A regretful smile as we wash the clay on each of our cheeks and says sa-wat-dee pi mai or Happy New Year! Songkran confirms Thailand’s ever-affirmative vision of life. Being the Water Festival of Thailand, Songkran is Thailand's music festival too, which is honored to mark the commencement of the Buddhist New Year. It is thereby purification and having a brand-new start.
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE IT?
The Thai people believe that water is religiously purifying: it absolves you of any bad luck or complaints from the past year and grants you prosperity and peace for the year ahead. The festival started with locals accumulating water that use to pour over Buddha figures for cleansing. This was then used to bless village seniors and family members by dripping it over their shoulders.
FUN PART: With these outsets, Songkran then transforms into a kingdom-wide water fight. It befalls in April, which luckily appears to be Thailand’s hottest month. The north capital of Chiang Mai serves host to the most significant celebrations of Songkran, with amazing activities reputedly traversing six days.
LOY KRATHONG
Loy Krathong, also known as the Thai Festival of Lights, is one of Thailand's most captivating and the second best-known festival after its New Year's festival Songkran. Loy Krathong is the legendary floating lantern festival in Thailand where thousands of Thai people unite for one evening crossed the nation, to release floating rafts called Krathongs on streams and waterways to give gratitude to the Virtue of Water and seek mercy from her.
It is a Buddhist festival lauded across the nation. The reason that the date of Loy Krathong varies every cycle is that, like several other Buddhist celebrations, the timing of the festivals is based on the lunar time.
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO CELEBRATE IT?
Loy Krathong this year will be observed on the night of Friday, November 19th. The date of Loy Krathong varies every year. Loy Krathong occurs on the night-time of the full moon of the 12th period of the Thai lunar table and specifically falls in November according to the Gregorian calendar.
HOW IS LOY KRATHONG CELEBRATED?
Some think that this is the opportunity to symbolically ‘float away’ all the rage and malice you have been carrying inside. Fingernails or a lock of hair, are also regarded as a way of letting go of a shady side of yourself, to begin afresh free of negative sentiments. If your candle lingers alight till your Krathong passes out of view, it means a cycle of good luck.
Traditionally, Thais lose their Krathong into streams and little canals. Nowadays, a pond or lake is excellent. Several sites host a series of cultural activities, such as Ram Wong dance shows, Krathong crafting sports and beauty competitions. You can go and enjoy the celebration almost throughout in the country where it has water. However, specific areas accommodate the festival on a very bigger scale, like Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, and Bangkok. Find your best accommodation to these places with Trip.com, and to save something extra, we too are here to give you the ส่วนลด Trip.com.
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YI PENG
Yi Peng is a festival of light slightly like Loy Krathong and it rejoices on the same day. Throughout the festival, thousands of paper lanterns called "khom loi" are freed into the sky. The view is truly an unbelievable sight to view, and a photographer desire to seize such moments. Apart from lantern releases, the celebration also involves lantern parades, holy events, parades, fireworks, music performances, and food.
Yi Peng disagrees with Loy Krathong in that lamps are thrust into the air rather than being rescued in the water and that Yi Peng is chiefly celebrated in north Thailand, whereas Loy Krathong rejoices all over the nation. The biggest ceremony of Yi Peng is held in Chiang Mai, the old capital of the late Lanna Kingdom.
Why is Yi Peng celebrated?
In Thai Lanna culture, Yi Peng Lantern Festival revels as a way to discharge negative power and request for good fate and great fortune in the coming year. The celebration is also a way to sanctify Buddha and the legend of Yi Peng has continually drawn back to the myth that a candle-carrying bird once hopped around Buddha to give his honour and earn value.
When?
Yi Peng revels in tandem with Loy Krathong, and festivities run three days.
Where?
Many villages and towns in northern Thailand have Yi Peng festivals, and Chiang Mai is the most immeasurable city to mark this wonderful celebration. In Chiang Mai, you will observe thousands of lanterns sailing into the sky, candles following the small alleys, and there are distinctive parades. Main ceremonies are held in the Three Kings Monument, Thapae Gate, the Old Town moat area, and the Ping River.
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UBON RATCHATHANI
Ubon Ratchathani is a two-day Candle Festival, which is the source of Buddhism Lent, the source of the Green Season in Thailand. The purpose why Ubon Ratchathani is designated the Candle Festival is that the parade floats that are being practised on the next day of this festival are formed of candle wax. During this celebration, the grand and enormous sculptures on the big stages are created by artists and display Buddhist myths, which are the highlight of this carnival, although there are loads of additional activities also. The parade, conducted by representatives, artists and dancers, crosses through the city centre. Keep in mind that as this is a holy festival, no alcohol is permitted.
When is the Candle Festival?
The accurate date of the Candle Festival is yet to be declared.
Where can you celebrate the Candle Festival?
Candle Festival is being taken at the Thung Si Mueang region of Ubon Ratchathani. Who wants to miss this godly scene? Capture this memory forever with you. Buy expensive and high-quality camera smartphones by going for ส่วนลด Ais Online Store.
BUN BANG FAI
Home-made rockets thundering into the skies, nasty fun, cross-dressing displays, dirt fests and loads of rice wine – the ages-old Rocket Festival Thailand, or Bun Bang Fai, occurs in May, is amongst the nation’s most significant events.
This famous festival in Thailand is very meaningful to the farming associations of Issan, which is placed in the northeastern portion of the nation. Entire communities visit the festival because they are deemed as the ultimate big ‘knees up’ ere the commencement of the planting season.
The rockets are fired up to praise the Gods to hurl down the abundance of rainfall. Ornate rockets are created and marched around on the opening day of Boon Bang Fai, and then drove high into the air during the weekend. One of the greatest festivals in Thailand 2021, every Rocket Festival is accompanied by live nation music, beauty pageants, enjoying local rice wine, and a crowd full of fun and joviality.
Held In: 8th - 10th May 2021 (expected date)
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Lopburi (Monkey Festival)
Lopburi Monkey Festival is a yearly feast driven in honour of the playful macaques of Lopburi (about 150 kilometres north of the capital Bangkok), which occupies the temples there.
Normally, the monkeys are loose to wander and serving them with anything other than sunflower seeds is hindered. However, per year, to commemorate the Hindu monkey-god Hanuman, the animals are handled to a feast of enormous tables of fruit, salad and other monkey favourable goodies, implicative of a Mad Hatter's Tea Party!
Watch out for when food riots explode and keep your valuables entirely out of sight, as these troublesome and mischievous creatures will try to seize away with them!
Will held in:
2021: Sunday, 28th November.
Magha Puja
Celebrated by Buddhists in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, Magha Puja is one of the most prominent Buddhist festivals. The festival commemorates the meeting of Buddha and 1,250 of the first disciples whom he preached. "Magha" indicates the third lunar period in Thailand, and "Puja" suggests "to worship". Thus "Magha Puja" holds the worshipping of the third lunar month.
On Magha Puja Day, the Thai Buddhists cook and offer meals to monks in the daylight, attend to Buddhist teachings in the afternoon, and carry flowers and lights to the stupa at night. They also surely discern the five Buddhist doctrines including refraining from killing living beings, cheating, sexual offence, deceiving and alcoholic beverages. This is why most of the utmost bars in Thailand are shut on this time.
When?
Thailand's Magha Bucha is commemorated on the mature moon day of the third lunar month. In the Gregorian time, this customarily falls in February.
Where?
Visit the local festivities, visit stupas such as Wat Pho in Bangkok.
Visakha Bucha (Buddha's Birthday)
This is one of Thailand’s Buddhist holidays. The most prominent Buddhist festival in Thailand celebrates the three most significant events in Buddha's life: his birth, his enlightenment, and his death (achievement of nirvana) all on the very day, known as Vesak Full Moon day.
On Visakha Bucha, Buddhists attend local temples, make donations, and engage in rites such as listening to Buddha's instructions and meditating. In major stupas, there are candlelight parades offered, making it a positively calm and serene area.
When?
There are no solidified dates for Visakha Bucha on the Gregorian time as the festival's estimation is based on the lunar time. It mostly befalls in May or June.
Where?
Significant temples in Bangkok, Chiang Mai are the epicentre of the celebration. Well, which festivals are celebrated without shopping? and for this auspicious occasion, we have a ส่วนลด Central Online coupon for you.
Royal Plowing Ceremony
An ancient royal culture dating back to beyond seven hundred years, the Royal Plowing Ceremony signifies the commencement of the rice-growing season. With half of the Thai society relying on agriculture for a living, no wonder that this tradition is an essential celebration for the people and the power. This festival is also an opportunity to acknowledge excellent farmers for their agricultural reforms. Therefore, it is additionally termed Farmer's Day.
Throughout the ploughing ceremony, two holy oxen wrapped in red and gold are employed to cultivate the field in the exterior of the Grand Palace. They embrace the field nine times (because nine is a sacred number in Thailand). The oxen are afterwards served seven foodstuffs, including rice, maize, green beans, sesame, grass, water, and rice wine. What they prefer will foretell what will be generous for the forthcoming season.
When?
The specific date of the Royal Ploughing Ceremony alters from year to year considering it is the lunar calendar that decides when it is jubilated. It typically befalls in April or May.
Where?
The ceremony is accommodated at Sanam Luang, a huge welcoming field and public square near Wat Pha Kaew and Grand Palace, Bangkok.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Not the sort of vegetarian festivity you may think of, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is conceivably Thailand's most novel and most fantastic festival. It is additionally described as the Nine Emperor Gods Festival or the Kin Jay Festival. Some believers confirm their commitment by exercising self-mutilation, such as stepping on burning coals, penetrating cheeks with pointed swords, and soaring blade ladders. Miraculously, most of them recover up without healing care.
Throughout the celebration, followers cannot devour meat, so you will uncover many vegetarian meals stalls labelled with yellow flags. The food is essentially soybean-based and formed to look like meat items such as pork and chicken and has an identical composition.
When?
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival commences on the opening day of the ninth period of the Chinese lunar time and runs for nine days. It is typically celebrated near the ending of September and the beginning of October.
Where?
Some of Phuket's principal shrines including Jui Tui, Bang Niew, Phut Jaw, Cherng Talay, and Kathu. Celebrations run within different shrines.
Phi Ta Khon (Ghost Festival)
Additionally recognised as the Ghost Festival, this is particularly the most interesting Thailand traditional festival. Phi Ta Khon is a celebration that unites spiritual traditions, a fun-loving social atmosphere, and regional handicrafts. It is partied for three days with thousands of locals carrying vivid, frightening masks with elongated faces and phallic noses, painted in glossy, and gaudy shades. The Ghost Festival’s source is a compound of Buddhist and animist faiths. Friday is customarily when the chief parade takes place, Saturday has music programs and pageants while Sunday is possessed for Buddhist traditions. Consider visiting this one if you want to encounter the vibe of ecclesiastical festivals in Thailand.
Location: Dan Sai Town
Held On:
The weekend of the lunar time of the 6th full moon.
Wing Kwai (Buffalo Racing Festival)
One of the pleasantest festivals in Thailand 2021, Wing Kwai is the celebration wherein buffalo racing is held. The culture of buffalo racing has continued to be followed for 100 ages in Thailand. The racetrack is 100 meters running which is positioned in front of Chonburi City Hall. Aside from buffalo racing, the festival also hosts buffalo beauty competitions, buffalo accessories and more. After visiting these, you can dig other fete games open at the festival.
Held On:
The date, ere the full moon night of the 11th Lunar period at the close of Buddhist Lent.
Surin Elephant Festival
As the name implies, this festival rejoices these giant mammals of Thailand. Historically, elephants have been viewed as a very crucial part of Thailand throughout the battle, farming procedures, as well as for travelling. Furthermore, Lord Ganesha is also venerated in the land for obviously the same idea. Revelled in the northeastern province of Thailand, this celebration will let you testify the sumptuous display of elephants that are encouraged heartily with vegetables and fruits. This Thailand festival is the most fascinating one, that every visitor must watch, for it reveals the aesthetic as well as the historical weight of the country.
Location: Surin Province, Isan, Thailand
Held On:
12th – 14th November 2021 (Estimated Date)
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Apart from the above 12 festivals, here are seven essential Thailand's holidays (public and national holidays involved), besides other key festivals and events:
- Chulalongkorn Day (October 23rd)
- Coronation Day (May 5th)
- Visakha Puja Holiday
- Constitution Day
- Buddhist Lent
- Western New Year Holiday (December 31st)
- Loy Kratong Holiday
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