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A Calendar of Events JANUARYOfficial Holidays Festivals Bo Sang, Chiang Mai Almost everyone in the small village of Bo Sang, near Chiang Mai, derives a livelihood from making gaily painted paper umbrellas. This fair, held on the main street, celebrates their traditional skill and features contests, exhibitions, stalls selling umbrellas and other handicrafts, and the selection of Miss Bo Sang.
FEBRUARYOfficial Holidays Commemorating the spontaneous gathering of 1,250 disciples of the Buddha Festivals Saraburi Buddhist devotees make annual pilgrimages to the Holy Footprint on the temple hill near Saraburi, 236 kilometres north of Bangkok. Festival features folk music, plays and bazaar.
Chiang Mai The north is noted for its rich variety of flowering plants, particularly temperate-zone specimens which are at their best during this cool month. Spectacular floral floats are a memorable feature of this annual event held in Chiang Mai, together with displays of flowers, handicraft sales, and beauty contests.
Chai Nat Straw is a plentiful by-product in rice farming, and local villagers construct large, brightly coloured straw birds reflecting the more than 85 species contained in the Chai Nat Bird Park, The straw birds are paraded in a fair which also features local handicrafts and culinary delicacies.
Phitsanuloki This fair honours the Phra Buddha Chinarat, one of Thailand's most sacred Buddha images which is now enshrined at Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat in Phitsanulok. Festive as well as religious, it features assorted kinds of entertainment such as folk theatre and ram-wong dancing, as well as stalls selling local products.
MARCHFestivals Mae Hong Son Almost everyone in the small village of Bo Sang, near Chiang Mai, derives a livelihood from making gaily painted paper umbrellas. This fair, held on the main street, celebrates their traditional skill and features contests, exhibitions, stalls selling umbrellas and other handicrafts, and the selection of Miss Bo Sang.
Saraburi Buddhist devotees make annual pilgrimages to the Holy Footprint on the temple hill near Saraburi, 236 kilometres north of Bangkok. Festival features folk music, plays and bazaar.
APRILOfficial Holidays The establishment of the Royal House of Chakri Festivals The Traditional Thai New Year is an occasion for merrymaking in Bangkok as well as in other parts of the country, with religious ceremonies as well as public festivities. Anyone who ventures out on the streets is likely to get a thorough soaking, but all in a spirit of fun and welcome at the peak of the hot season.
Pattaya City, Chon Buri Thailand's world-famous seaside resort puts on its most festive face for this annual event, held at the height of the summer season. Food and floral floats, beauty contests, stalls selling local delicacies, and a spectacular display of fireworks on the beach are only a few of the highlights the attract merrymakers.
MAYOfficial Holidays Commemorating the Birth, Enlightenment and Passing Away of the Buddha Festivals Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat These annual fairs are held in the eastem provinces of Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat to celebrate the abundance of local fruits such as rambutan, durian, mangosteen and zalacca, then at their peak of succulent ripeness. Besides stalls selling the produce of surrounding orchards, and local products, there are colourful processions of floats decorated with fruits and flowers, beauty pageants, fruits contests, cultural shows, exhibitions of provincial handicrafts and agricultural produce, and local entertainments.
Yasothon For this annual festival, villagers of the Northeast fashion rockets of all kinds, some of them several metres long, the launching of which is believed to ensure plentiful rains in the coming rice-planting season. High-spirited revelry accompanies the event, with beauty parades, folk dancing, and stage shows.
Bangkok An ancient Brahman ritual, this celebrates the official commencement of the rice-planting season and is held at Sanam Luang, the large field across from the Grand Palace. Colourful costumes are worn by the participants who perform various ceremonies which are believed to forecast the abundance of the coming rice crop.
JUNEFestivals Loei The festival has its origin in a traditional Buddhist tale. When Prince Vessandorn, the Buddha's penultimate incarnation, returned to his city, the welcoming procession was so delightful that spirits emerged to celebrate. Phi Ta Khon is celebrated largely by young men who dress as spirits to parade a sacred Buddha image and tease villagers, and monks reciting the story of the Buddha's last great incarnation before attaining Enlightenment.
JULYOfficial Holidays Commemorating the Day of the Buddha's first Sermon Festivals Ubon Ratchathani The Commencement of Phansa, or the Buddhist Rains Retreat, (known in Thai as Khao Phansa) is observed in the northeastern city of Ubon Ratchathani with this lovely festival that displays artistic skills as well as piety. Beautifully carved beeswax candles, some of them several metres tall, are exhibited in colourful parades before being presented to local temples.
Nationwide This day marks commencement of the annual three-month Rains Retreat when Buddhist monks customarily stay inside their monasteries to study and meditate. Phansa is the most auspicious time for Buddhist ordinations since it comprises a period of renewed a spiritual vigour.
AUGUSTOfficial Holidays SEPTEMBERFestivals Phichit This annual regatta takes place on the Nan River which runs through the provincial capital and features numerous low-slung wooden boats raced with great gusto to the cheers of spectators.
Songkhla Thais of Chinese ancestry make offerings to the Moon or Queen of the Heavens in gratitude for past and future fortune. Traditional festivities include lion and dragon dances, lantern processions and contests, displays and folk entertainment.
OCTOBEROfficial Holidays in remember of King Rama V Festivals Sakon Nakhon Northeasterners celebrate the end of the annual Buddhist Rains Retreat (Ok Phansa) by constructing beeswax creations in the form of miniature Buddhist temples and shirnes (wax castles) in the belief that accrued merit enables them to personally determine their future rebirth. After wax castles are ceremoniously paraded throughout the provincial, and presented to temples, the province annual regatta takes plaoe amid cheerful festivities the following day.
Phitsanuloki Chak Phra, an activity occurring on the same day as the Thot Phapa ceremony, a form of merit-making when Buddhists offer saffron robes to monks and donate money to temples, at the end of the Buddhist Rains Retreat. Thot Phapa takes places at dawn, before Chak Phra, the ceremony when Buddha images on elaborately decorated carriages are pulled by local people in land and water-borne processions. There are also traditional forms of evening entertainment.
NOVEMBERFestivals The Siam Commercial Bank Plaza, Bangkok The Siam Commercial Bank Plaza, Bangkok The festival will feature Thai and international in culinary demonstrations, contests and exhibitions. Quality gourmet food will also be on sale. Diet counseling from food and nutrition experts will be available.
Sukhothai According to tradition, Loi Krathong originated in Sukhothai, the first Thai capital, and so it is appropriate to hold this memorable festival in the atmospheric ruins of the ancient city. Highlights include displays of lighted candles and fireworks, folk dancing, and a spectacular light and sound presentation.
Kanchanaburi Celebrated in the movie of the same name, the bridge on the River Kwai is the setting for this week-long series of events in a province that also has other interesting attractions. Highlights include a light and sound presentation at the bridge, archaeological and historical exhibitions, and rides on vintage trains.
Lop Buri Over 500 monkeys will enjoy a delectable vegetarian Chinese-style banquet, at the city's Prang Sam Yot and Phra Kan Shrine. The banquet will be staged at 10.00 A.M., 12.00 noon and 2.00 P.M. Special gifts, including mirrors and toys, will be presented to the monkeys, who lend both structures much of their colour and atmosphere.
DECEMBEROfficial Holidays Festivals Buri Ram This annual competition features various forms of traditional Thai Kites; and includes surrogate battles of the sexes featuring Chula (male) and Pakpao (female) kites.
Information provided by The Tourism Authority of Thailand. Link to more information about Thailand Festivals and Events |
