Thailand has a number of exciting National festivals which remain almost undiscovered by tourists. We can take you to places where you will be one of a very small number of foreigners enjoying Thai tradition with 'the locals'.

The Rocket Festival

The Rite of Rockets is the wild fertility rite of the Northeast. Officially called the "Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival". Thai people in the Northeastern region believe that successful harvests depend totally on Taen, the "official angel" in charge of making rain. If properly appeased, Taen will make rain by opening up the gates of heaven. Thus each year, they celebrate the Rocket Festival to remind Taen to start making rain.
Rain, the life giving force of nature, signifies fertility. This makes May, a usually "rainy month," an ideal time for courtship, according to Thai beliefs.
 
 
 

Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong is probably one of Thailand's most colorful festivals, one that visitors are welcome to join and when people gather along rivers. Held during the November full moon, it is a thanksgiving celebration to the goddess of waterways when Thais visit rivers to set small flowered boats or krathongs adrift. To join the fun, pick up a krathong at a local shop. Inside the banana leaf boat, you will find flowers, incense, a candle and a coin. After dark, take your krathong to the river, light the incense and candle, and set it free. If the candle remains burning until the krathong floats out of sight, you will have good luck for the coming year.

Songkran

The Songkran Festival lasts three days from the 13th till the 15th April. This is the time when the sun moves into the House of Aries. The second day is the day to be free and to get ready for the new year which will start on the 15th. This had been the New Year's Day for the Thais until 1941, when the International New Year's Day was adopted. As it is, the Thais prefer to celebrate both occasions with just as much mirth and glee. The festival often means days of food preparation for the women and major house and compound cleaning for the men. The altar where the image of Buddha is placed for members of the family to worship must be given special attention and thorough cleaning. The merit making on Songkran Day (13th of April) consists of the offering of food to monks, attendance in a temple for a sermon, and the blessing of ashes of the deceased members of the family with perfume as well as the sharing of the merit being made to those deceased.