Thailand prepares for annual festival

There are two festivals a year that are extremely important in Thailand, Song Kran, which takes place in spring, when the rice is being planted, to pray for a good harvest. The second is at the end of the growing season, where thanks is given to the local gods and ancestors for the year’s crop. Loy Kratong is what the end-of-season bash is called, and it’s just started in the North of Thailand. The festival is celebrated on different days as you travel south through the country, based on the various growing cycles in different regions.

The biggest pace to enjoy the Loy Kratong festivities, where paper lanterns are sent up in the air, candles are floated down the river and endless fireworks are exploded in your ears, is Chiang Mai, the principal city in the north and Thailand’s second largest urban centre.

The celebrations this year are going to be all the more impressive, with special activities planned to honour the country’s monarch, who marks his 60^th year of his reign this year, as well as his 80^th birthday.

The city’s mayor assures visitors that this will be the best Loy Kratong ever, and asks people to act responsibly as the city teems with revelers this weekend.