The moment we released the floating lantern into the sky, my heart became heavy, shortness of breath, ear was blocked and saw things in slow motion; standing in that mind blowing scene, I had to remind myself to get back to work as in start taking pictures of the thousands floating lanterns. That was my unforgettable experience during the Yi Peng Festival back in 2013.
Yi Peng, the Festival of Lights is celebrated on the full moon day in the 2nd month of Lanna lunar calendar in Chiang Mai, the ancient capital of former Lanna Kingdom. The people celebrate this festival by releasing the floating lanterns into the sky; the release is to get rid of their bad luck and make a wish for a better future.
There are 2 celebrations of Yi Peng festival in Chiang Mai. One is a religious ceremony conducted in Thai Language for the local. And the other one is specially for the tourists.
I managed to join in the celebration with the local by following the tour organized by Thai Life Touring. During the tour, I was with a group of CouchSurfers. I got to know them through the CouchSurfing website. I remembered initially the number of CouchSurfers joining the event was single digit, but the number kept growing as the date got closer. And on the day of event, we had around 50 CouchSurfers, as a result, Thai Life Touring had to cater 3 coaches just for us. Everything went so smoothly, and I felt really thankful for the leadership by one of the CouchSurfers, Lester Lee.
The tour started at 2pm, all the participants met up at Taepae Gate of Chiang Mai's Old City. First activity of the tour was releasing of bird; in Thai Buddhist culture, it is a good merit to give creature life and freedom.
After the birds in our hands got their freedom, we moved on to Maejo University for the main highlight of the tour, releasing of sky lanterns. At Maejo University, the staffs of tour had already help all of us to reserve the seats at the venue. Do take note that seats are based on first come first serve basis. Our seats were not the best one as all the better seats in front of the stage were being occupied. I couldn't ask for more, because I were considered lucky to be part of the celebration with the local. Shortly after we got seated, we were given our sky lanterns as well, about 3 to 4 paxs shared 1 sky lantern as it was included in the tour package.
There are 2 celebrations of Yi Peng festival in Chiang Mai. One is a religious ceremony conducted in Thai Language for the local. And the other one is specially for the tourists.
I managed to join in the celebration with the local by following the tour organized by Thai Life Touring. During the tour, I was with a group of CouchSurfers. I got to know them through the CouchSurfing website. I remembered initially the number of CouchSurfers joining the event was single digit, but the number kept growing as the date got closer. And on the day of event, we had around 50 CouchSurfers, as a result, Thai Life Touring had to cater 3 coaches just for us. Everything went so smoothly, and I felt really thankful for the leadership by one of the CouchSurfers, Lester Lee.
The tour started at 2pm, all the participants met up at Taepae Gate of Chiang Mai's Old City. First activity of the tour was releasing of bird; in Thai Buddhist culture, it is a good merit to give creature life and freedom.
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| about to release the bird |
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| CouchSurfers having fun releasing the birds |
After the birds in our hands got their freedom, we moved on to Maejo University for the main highlight of the tour, releasing of sky lanterns. At Maejo University, the staffs of tour had already help all of us to reserve the seats at the venue. Do take note that seats are based on first come first serve basis. Our seats were not the best one as all the better seats in front of the stage were being occupied. I couldn't ask for more, because I were considered lucky to be part of the celebration with the local. Shortly after we got seated, we were given our sky lanterns as well, about 3 to 4 paxs shared 1 sky lantern as it was included in the tour package.
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| Ted, Roger and Myself |
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| The Staffs of Thai Life Touring |
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| The stage where the monks will be seated for the prayers and chantings |
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| The Hosts for different languages |
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| The Thai in white ceremony dress |
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| ธุดงคสถานล้านนา |
The religious ceremony started at around 6pm. The prayers and chanting were led by a group of monks on the stage in Thai Language. To show our respect, we tried to minimize the conversations among ourselves and observed the ceremony closely.
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| The big crowd can't wait for the event to start |
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| The Monks on stage getting ready to start the ceremony |
Finally the moment had arrived, when everyone was asked to stand up as the student volunteers went around the ground to light up the torches. Step by step instructions on how to release the sky lanterns was announced by the hosts in different languages like Thai, English and etc.
The ground was filled with nothing but excitement. And upon hearing the release command, our lantern followed the rest of the thousands lanterns into the sky and floated away from us. As I stared at the surrealistic scene, I felt the other way round as if I was floating away from the thousands lanterns. My longing to witness this magical moment finally came true.
Next we headed back to Chiang Mai, along the Ping River under the Iron Bridge for our last activity of the tour, Loy Krathong, also known as Festival of Lights. This festival fall on the full moon of the 12th lunar month, normally around the same time as Yi Peng. "Loy" means float and "Krathong" means a decorated basket. During Loy Krahthong celebration, people gather around the river and float the decorated basket onto the water to pay respects to the goddess of water and also to make a wish for themselves.
Yi Peng is the most memorable festival that I have attended so far. The experience was so amazing, magical, heart touching, serene and any other positive words that you can think of. Other than the festival, I also made some new friends from CouchSurfing group. It is really nice that I still keep in touch with some of them and keep the friendship going.
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| Demonstration on how to light and release a sky lantern |
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| The Student Volunteers getting themselves ready |
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| Volunteer lighting up the torch |
The ground was filled with nothing but excitement. And upon hearing the release command, our lantern followed the rest of the thousands lanterns into the sky and floated away from us. As I stared at the surrealistic scene, I felt the other way round as if I was floating away from the thousands lanterns. My longing to witness this magical moment finally came true.
Next we headed back to Chiang Mai, along the Ping River under the Iron Bridge for our last activity of the tour, Loy Krathong, also known as Festival of Lights. This festival fall on the full moon of the 12th lunar month, normally around the same time as Yi Peng. "Loy" means float and "Krathong" means a decorated basket. During Loy Krahthong celebration, people gather around the river and float the decorated basket onto the water to pay respects to the goddess of water and also to make a wish for themselves.
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| All of us queuing up to float our Krathong |
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| Krathong is made from the trunk of banana tree and banana leaves. |
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| with the CouchSurfers. Photo Credit: Ted |
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| Alex, Lester and Myself. Photo Credit: Ted |
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| Krathong floating on the Ping River under the Iron Bridge |
Yi Peng is the most memorable festival that I have attended so far. The experience was so amazing, magical, heart touching, serene and any other positive words that you can think of. Other than the festival, I also made some new friends from CouchSurfing group. It is really nice that I still keep in touch with some of them and keep the friendship going.
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| Yi Peng Festival, An Unforgettable Experience in 2013 |
Thai Life Touring Package 2013
Price: 550 THB/person.
Included:
- Round trip transportation by van/bus
- Birds to release
- Lantern (3-4 person per Lantern)
- Krathong
- Snack break
- Dinner
- On-site Staffs Support
For more information, please call 081-5954840 or email to thailifesociety@gmail.com
Points to note
- What? Yi Peng Festival (Local celebration)
- Where? Maejo University in San Sai District (Chiang Mai)
- When? November (the full moon day in the 2nd month of Lanna lunar calendar); date will be announced only a few weeks in advance.
- Entry for the Local celebration event is Free
- Seats are based on first come first serve basis
- Participants are encouraged to wear traditional Lanna Thai costume/ white dress/ polite outfit during the event to pay respect to temple.
- Proper Dress is available for sell at the Souvenir Shop
- Lanterns must be purchased inside the University; Lanterns from vendors outside the University is not allowed
- Wearing Shorts and Singlets is not allowed
- Alcohol beverages is not allowed
- Weapons is not allowed
- Traffic will be congested after the event, do walk 1 to 2 km away from the venue to get a transport to your destination.
:::::::::::::: Yi Ping Festival Location ::::::::::::::
ธุดงคสถานล้านนา
Address: San Sai District, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Location: Click Here for Map
Year visited: 2013
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Written by: Q.J.
Photography by: Q.J.