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Every year in Thailand, on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar – usually in November – thousands of locals and tourists flock to the nearest body of water to celebrate Loy Krathong.
As part of the festival, people release small floats – krathongs – which are usually covered with decorative banana plant leaves and covered with flowers, incense and candles. These are set adrift as offerings to the water goddess, an act that many people believe brings good luck.
Loy Krathong falls on November 15 this year and events are held all over the country, but the biggest celebration takes place in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Sukhothai.
Featuring traditional parades, light and sound shows and fireworks, the Festival of Lights takes place from November 8 to 15, when the city’s ancient monuments are dramatically illuminated to celebrate the historic park’s impressive heritage.
But even if you can’t make the trip to Sukhothai for the Loy Krathong festivities, it’s worth visiting all year round.
The birthplace of Siam
Sukhothai was the first capital of the Kingdom of Siam (the former name of Thailand) in the 13th and 14th centuries, before it was conquered by Ayutthaya, which became the new capital in 1438. Today, several impressive Buddhist monasteries and other examples of early Thai architecture can be explored at the Sukhothai Historical Park.
UNESCO, which added the city and its associated towns to the World Heritage List in 1991, credits Sukhothai with developing many of the unique identifying features that represent Thai culture today, including language, religion and architecture.
“The great civilization that developed in the Sukhothai Kingdom absorbed countless influences and ancient local traditions; the rapid assimilation of all these elements led to what is known as the ‘Sukhothai style’,” says the inscription.
Sirawee Lamsudjai, a native of Sukhothai, is a cultural officer at the city’s Ramkhamhaeng National Museum. She says what surprises many tourists is not only the beautiful architecture and Buddhist monuments, but also the slow-paced way of life.
“The first impression of many tourists visiting Sukhothai is how peaceful it is, how the local lifestyle blends harmoniously with the historical sites,” she says.
Although compact, there is a lot to see here. Wat Mahathat is located in the middle of the historical park and features a large pagoda. Sirawee says another highlight is Wat Traphang Thong, or Golden Lake Monastery, the main venue for the Festival of Lights.
Wat Si Chum is also a popular site, especially among photographers, that you should not miss.
“Tourists are awed by the gigantic seated Buddha statue, which is housed in a roofless building,” Sirawee said. “The image looks beautiful, especially when the sunlight hits it, which gives a feeling of serenity.”
A city of innovators
Sukhothai may be known as a place where art, language and religion flourished – many scholars call it the birthplace of Thai culture – but it is also praised for its innovation.
“As people walk through Sukhothai’s historical sites, they will come across man-made ponds that are systematically connected to each other,” says Sirawee.
“The city is known for the most efficient water system in Siamese history.”
UNESCO also highlights Sukhothai’s progress in the development of hydraulic engineering in the inscription, noting that the kingdom successfully modified the local landscape by building reservoirs, ponds and canals to control floods and bring in water “to fulfill a variety of agricultural, economic and ritual functions. .”
But while historians are certain of Sukhothai’s water management successes, questions about its connection to Loy Krathong remain unanswered. Many people believe the former capital is the birthplace of the festival, but the reality is a bit murkier given the lack of concrete evidence and varying historical accounts, experts claim.
Sirawee says it is not clear when Loy Krathong’s activities were first implemented in Thailand, but notes that Sukhothai documents do mention candle and fireworks festivals.
Tongthong Chandransu, a noted historian and scholar who has extensively researched Thailand’s legal, political and cultural history, has a similar view.
He tells CNN that there have been no reports of floats being released into the water, written on Sukhothai’s famous Ramkhamhaeng inscription, a stone monument covered in Thai script that contains descriptions of what life was like in the kingdom under the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng.
“The origins of Loy Krathong culture are still the subject of academic debate,” he says.
“But (we do know) this activity has been practiced by Thais for more than 200 years since the Rattanakosin era (1782–1932).”
The most widely accepted theory is that the floats were originally a symbolic way of expressing gratitude to the goddess of water, Phra Mae Khongkha.
“The lifestyle of the Thai people was heavily dependent on water, from general consumption to agriculture. The river used to be the main transportation route – everything happened around the water,” says Tongthong.
Therefore, some historians believe that the sacrifices were made as an apology to the goddess for disturbing her with so many activities.
Tongthong says that over time, people have come to associate the release of krathongs into the water with the release of bad luck, although in recent years it has been impossible to ignore the environmental impact.
“Releasing flower krathongs made from stems and leaves of banana plants was never a problem until recently, when the population increased dramatically. Of course it creates a mass of krathongs and pollutes the water,” he says.
In response, many people are now choosing more sustainable ways to keep the tradition alive, such as making their krathong base from bread or other biodegradable materials.
Others simply light a digital krathong online, or release them in waters devoid of wildlife, such as swimming pools.
“It is a very charming festival,” says Tongthong. “The timing is perfect, the water level on the rivers is at its peak and it happens during the transition period from the rainy season to the winter season. Moreover, the moon is full. It is very beautiful.”
Transportation in and around Sukhothai
Regardless of whether Sukhothai is the birthplace of Loy Krathong culture, it remains one of the best places to experience it.
The city is about a six-hour drive from Bangkok, with flights taking about 80 minutes. Bangkok Airways offers daily flights to Sukhothai Airport from Suvarnabhumi Airport in the Thai capital.
Sukhothai is filled with a range of hotel options to suit all budgets and tastes, most of which are within walking distance of the historic sites. Bike rentals are widely available and a fun way to see the main highlights, while guided tours provide additional insights.
For those interested in learning more about the city’s impressive history, the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum – just outside the gates of the historic park – features a wide variety of artefacts discovered during a series of excavations in the 1960s.
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