Yee Peng Thai Lanterns Alight
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009Festivities aplenty in Asia, South East Asia looks to get the selection of the bundle. Not surprisingly Thailand is the home of Thai Lanterns and are today hitting a far larger audience as they gain popularity at UK events.One Such Festival by the name of Yee Peng follows the Buddhist Calendar and translates to the twelfth lunar month. The Western Calendar normally finds this coming in November. This Festival goes by the name of Loy Krathong through other splits of Thailand.Many traditions are observed during this festival by the Thai people.. My favourite activity is the liberating of ‘Thai Lanterns’ or ‘Khom Loy’. It is truly magic to honor the sky alight with these radiating globes. It is imagined that as the lanterns go away into th sky so too do your headaches.. The light is said to lead people to a happy and fulfilled living. I am not sure if westerners grasp the comparable belief but every year see’s many joining in on this fun event. Bamboo chassis with a Rice Paper shell is how these Thai Lanterns are built in a biodegradeable way.Flight time is about 12 minutes and the Lanterns are well-known to reach upward of 1200 ft!Popularity has been on the rise (excuse the pun) and has even seen the Royal Thai Air Force change their air activity and make cautionary to the airport to be cautious of prospective dangers should a lantern get lodged in a plane turbine.