The Festival of Lights, also called
Yi Peng is an exciting celebration in northern Thailand that occurs on the full
moon of the 12th month of the Lanna Calendar. People of the Buddhist faith
gather together for a ceremony of meditation, reading of holy scriptures, and
singing all conducted by the monks. The ceremony ends with families lighting a
lantern and releasing it into the air sometimes even attaching a piece of hair
or a nail clipping to a sky getting rid of their bad luck for the next year.
Another celebration very similar to Yi Peng is Loi Krathong. Instead of
lighting sky lanterns, people release floating lanterns on the water. They are
very similar festivals occurring an the same time period but very different in
meaning.
We left Chiang Mai extremely early
for the sky lantern ceremony on a moto bike and headed to Mae Sae University
located 20 Km out of the city. Thank goodness we left early because there was
SO much traffic. Being on a moto bike was really convenient because we stayed
in a moto bike only lane which moved 3 times faster than all the cars on the
highway. The area was packed! It was full of vendors selling all sorts of
lanterns, food and drinks all the way down to the entrance.
It reminded us of going to see
fireworks for the 4th of July at home only this was Thailand's version. We
bought 2 lanterns, got to the entance and learned that you couldn't bring your
own inside. You had to buy them there. So we scooted off to the side with the
people who also brought their own lanterns and released them into the night
sky.
We headed into the University grounds
and bought our new lantern. There were so many people! Thais and tourists. We
got a quick glance of the stage of meditating monks and the golden Buddha
statue before we were pushed by the crowd to a field of grass.
We sat and waited with our lantern, listening
to the chanting monks and readings on the loud speaker, some of which were in
English. The translator kept saying to be still your mind, be in the moment and
in peace. It was wonderful. Finally, we were instructed to light our lanterns
and then release after the signal that was a huge firework in the sky. All
together 10,000 lanterns floated so gracefully in the air to the sky.
It was
absolutely magical. Probably the coolest thing we have ever seen!
Chiang Mai was a blast! We had such a
great time exploring the area and experiencing the Thai culture. We are so
thankful that we got to be apart of it! The memories we made, we will be
talking about forever!
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