14 minutes ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

I did not hear the Loi Kratong song playing over the loudspeakers in any stores in Bangkok that I went to, as they normally do. Yesterday, Loi Kratong Day, I heard Christmas Music in one store. Is the pandemic to blame for that too?

Loi Kratong song in the shop next door to me yesterday. Back to Christmas today though

There's a pandemic on and people don't want to die!

18 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Lots of fireworks going off all around in San Sai.

Not many floating lanterns.

To paraphrase Carl Sandburg's poem,

"Loi Kratong comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over river and village on silent haunches and then moves on."

That was pretty much the extent of this major Thai holiday in my rural neck of Northeast Lamphun Province.  Had I not known it was a holiday, it would have come and gone in silent anonymity.  A few interspersed fireworks here and there, no Kom-Fai lanterns that the government have been wanting to ban for year.

Congratulations Thai government:
No alcohol, no kom-fai, no tourists.  Ya'll have successfully killed the geese laying golden eggs  

3 hours ago, BE88 said:

Eliminate all the festivities of Buddhist origin and ancient religious manifestations and the plan of the generals to transform the country into a communist country, if you have not yet understood it is time to face reality.

 

Our Old City village has many people who come to where it all started.

Your wrong by the way it's just a festival.

 

It is believed that Loy Krathong or "the festival of light" originated in the ancient city of Sukhothai located about five hours north of Bangkok.

It is not necessarily a religious holiday but you will see many Thais praying to the water goddess  " Mae Khongkha " as they send their decorated 'boats' down the river.

 

Very few here read history and only have silly theories.

 

 

Edited November 20, 20214 yr by Kwasaki

2 hours ago, Tedly said:

I'm in San Sai too and I saw lots of lanterns the last 2 night along with fireworks. But maybe lot's to me is down from normal as this is my first Loy Krathong here.

In it's hey day it was like a blitzkrieg in reverse.....

3 hours ago, NancyL said:

Here in muang Chiang Mai definitely saw fireworks and heard noisemakers, but puzzled by the lack of Khom Loys.  The Khom Loy shop in our neighborhood was open for business during the day, however.  Hubby reports that the shop wasn't doing its usual brisk business ahead of the holiday.  But, some people were buying them.  Didn't see any during our viewing of the Ping River from our condo.  Usually, as mentioned, there are thousands.  

 

Our cats aren't too bothered by the noise, but there were a couple of times that they went running for cover in the condo.  Fortunately, they get over it much better than dogs do.  Neighborhood noise was more subdued, but some people were having their fun.

 

I don't think the holiday is permanently dead, but people are being cautious because of Covid and the lack of tourists is definitely felt.

Yeah Nancy, we only had one of our dogs get a little twitchy.  He's the one the most afraid of fireworks.  The other 6 dogs took it like business as usual as there were just so little noise.  The cat didn't care.  The bird slept though it all.  By 10PM even the sporadic fireworks had completely stopped and it was just crickets and night-noises until I hit the hay around 1AM.  Our dogs in the past have just been a mess during Loi Krathong.  This year?  Barely bothered at all.
I noticed that most villagers lit candles and placed them on their fences.  Floating lanterns where in "dry dock" this year.  The local temple was silent.  I've never seen anything like this since I moved here.  New Normal?  Probably.  Sad.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Every year they used to release 10,000 lanterns at the Dhamma Centre in MaeJo.

This is what it used to look like ..........

 

It was magical.  When I lived in Chiang Mai we used to sit on the balcony of our apartment and watch is wonder and awe. 

Now?  One more cultural icon that has had its heart cut-out and burnt to ashes on the alter of The New Normal.  Immensely sad. 

8 hours ago, steven100 said:

what nonsense .....   but it did give me a laugh ,    Lol

you think the general will stay? and that Thaksin won't be back? ????

 

44 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

you think the eneral will stay? and that Thaksin won't be back? ????

 

I don't think the General will stay or that Thaksin will be back. 

1 minute ago, Kwasaki said:

I don't think the General will stay or that Thaksin will be back. 

personally, I think Thaksin will be "called" back simply because there will be no alternatives to "appease" the people

 

we are getting there, slowly but surely

5 hours ago, tonray said:

Utter nonsense because these festivals and Thai Buddhism in general have been used to control the population for decades...there is no way they ever want to change that

Ask China people what communist government have make.

 

2 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Our Old City village has many people who come to where it all started.

Your wrong by the way it's just a festival.

 

It is believed that Loy Krathong or "the festival of light" originated in the ancient city of Sukhothai located about five hours north of Bangkok.

It is not necessarily a religious holiday but you will see many Thais praying to the water goddess  " Mae Khongkha " as they send their decorated 'boats' down the river.

 

Very few here read history and only have silly theories.

 

 

You confirm what I wrote, but rest assured with your pink glasses nothing will not change.

 

1 hour ago, GrandPapillon said:

personally, I think Thaksin will be "called" back simply because there will be no alternatives to "appease" the people

 

we are getting there, slowly but surely

I like I think name' Abasip '  the young guy who was in charge briefly, and I'm bias because he was educated in England. ????

56 minutes ago, BE88 said:

You confirm what I wrote, but rest assured with your pink glasses nothing will not change.

 

I don't think in a negative way it's unhealthy.

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Our Old City village has many people who come to where it all started.

Your wrong by the way it's just a festival.

 

It is believed that Loy Krathong or "the festival of light" originated in the ancient city of Sukhothai located about five hours north of Bangkok.

It is not necessarily a religious holiday but you will see many Thais praying to the water goddess  " Mae Khongkha " as they send their decorated 'boats' down the river.

 

Very few here read history and only have silly theories.

 

 

The reasons why Loy Kratong is celebrated with gusto at Mueang Khao is obvious - the originating tradition has it's roots there. 

Historically, the most celebrated and spectacular scenes have taken place at Mueang Khao. 

35 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

The reasons why Loy Kratong is celebrated with gusto at Mueang Khao is obvious - the originating tradition has it's roots there. 

Historically, the most celebrated and spectacular scenes have taken place at Mueang Khao. 

That's why more Thais than Falangies. ????

There's a few I've seen here though.

It's busy now late afternoon and night.

The history of where I live is interesting. 

On 11/19/2021 at 7:57 PM, mikebike said:

Yep, nothing going on in the world which may have affected any cultural eventss... oiy vey.

You miss the point. This started with previous govts, making themselves our moral guardians, hence the alcohol restrictions. The present govt ramped this up & is systematically dismantling everything that makes Thailand interesting & special. When they're done all we'll have is beaches & palm trees, could be anywhere.

 

Covid will one day be over. Airfares & prices will skyrocket & we'll get rich family tourists who only want beaches & palm trees & quality third world service with generic food.

 

The generals are turning us into the McDonalds of tropical vacations.

On 11/20/2021 at 12:10 AM, BritManToo said:

Every year they used to release 10,000 lanterns at the Dhamma Centre in MaeJo.

This is what it used to look like ..........

 

 Wow! Yea, guess it is down, but not stopped, I heard a lot of fireworks around my area Thursday night through Sunday night

In Chiang Mai I heard fireworks for the past 2 weeks, finally it stopped (I don't mind, but the dogs were driving me nuts)