Rocket Festival in Yasothon

Rocket Festival in Yasothon

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE

From May 14-15, the annual "Yasothon: City Of Bang Fai And Isan Legends" festival will take place at Phaya Thaen Park and in Muang district of Yasothon.

The bun bang fai (home-made rockets for rain-seeking) festival is a deeply rooted local tradition relating to northeasterners' lifestyles and religious beliefs. Locals believe that when the rice-farming season begins, they must light rockets to worship Phaya Thaen, the god of rain, in order to request downpour.

This year, the festival will feature folk dancing and music, cultural performances and parades of rockets, as well as rocket-decorating and rocket-launching contests. Teams with the highest-flyers and most elaborate inventions will be awarded prizes.

Throughout the event, visitors can shop for famous local products such as pillows and pla som (a kind of fermented fish), taste a variety of food and watch cultural performances and the making of rockets.

Before or after the festival, tourists can choose to visit Ban Singh Tha, a historic site in Muang; worship the Lord Buddha's footprint at Wat Phra Buddhabhat Yasothon; see popped rice garlands at Wat Hor Klong in Maha Chana Chai; visit St Michael's, a wooden cathedral, in Thai Charoen; and shop for pillows and basketry at Ban Si Than, Ban Na Samai and Ban Thung Na Oak handicraft villages in Muang.

Contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) local office at 045-243-770 or 045-250-714.

Unique ordination in the Northeast

On the morning of May 8, a most unusual ordination ceremony, called "Brutal Ordination Parade", or Hae Nak Hod, will be held at Ban Non Salao and Ban Non Tan in Phu Khieo, Chaiyaphum.

Since 1971, this ceremony has become an annual event for young male villagers of Ban Non Salao-Ban Non Tan to be ordained Buddhist monks.

The parade is considered brutal for the way the monks-to-be are made to sit on bamboo stretchers, carried and shaken violently by other young male villagers around the village for about 3km.

Locals believe this endurance test proves genuine intent and determination to become monks. Anyone who falls off the bamboo stretcher cannot enter the monkhood. Since the start of this practice, no one has failed the test.

Call the TAT Nakhon Ratchasima Office at 044-213-030 or 044-213-666.

Fruit Fest in Trat

In the middle of May, the eastern province of Trat will host their annual Fruit Festival, during the harvest season in Khao Saming.

Visitors will be able to taste a variety of freshly picked fruits, as well as participate in fruit-carving, dessert-making, and parade-float competitions and shows.

Trat is one of the major fruit-growing provinces in Thailand, with many beautiful beaches on its coastline to the west, and bordering Cambodia to the east.

Email tattrat@tat.or.th or call the TAT Trat Office at 039-597-259/60.

Muddy sea festival

From May 6-8, the "7th Muddy Sea World Festival" will take place near the mouth of Bang Taboon Bay in Ban Laem, Phetchaburi.

Highlights include free boat rides to see the natural beauty of the sea, as well as the mangrove forests and seabirds in Ban Laem, not to mention the life and work of local fishermen. Other activities will include the sale of fresh and dried seafood and organic farm produce, as well as cultural performances and contests for clam-eating and -collecting.

Contact the TAT Phetchaburi Office at 032-471-005/6.


Email pichayas@bangkokpost.co.th if you have any news to share.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT