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Loi Krathong, the tradition of setting banana-leaf floats with flickering candles adrift in rivers and waterways and aptly named the ‘Festival of Lights’, is one of Thailand's most internationally known festivals.
This November, visitors to the Bang Sai Arts and Crafts Center, Ayutthaya will be treated to a little known and rarely seen facet of these festivities.
In a revival of long lost customs of the ancient Siamese capital, the Loi Krathong celebrations at the Bang Sai Arts and Crafts Center this year will promote and preserve the royal rituals of the early Rattanakosin period in which several types of lanterns were set afloat in the Chao Phraya River and its waterways.
During the early Rattanakosin period, the royal rituals of Jong Priang, Lote Choot, Loi Khome Long Nam, performed during the twelfth lunar month (which usually falls in mid-November), were based on Brahmin beliefs. These were the court versions of Loi Krathong performed as an act of worship in which the Devaraja or ‘God Kings’ made offerings of light to the Brahmin deities. Lit lanterns were hoisted on to poles for two weeks during the twelfth lunar month and then floated on the waterways as ritual offerings. From its Brahmin roots, the practice has evolved over time and has come to be part of a Buddhist ritual performed as an act of deep reverence and worship of the sacred relics and holy footprints of Lord Buddha.
The practice was subsequently adopted and adapted by common folk and evolved into the folk tradition we know of today.
The Bang Sai Folk Arts and Crafts Training Centre and Bang Sai Arts and Crafts Village in Ayutthaya Province comes under the supervision of the SUPPORT Foundation established by Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand to preserve and promote traditional Thai folk arts and crafts in tandem with the development of supplementary occupations to help augment the earnings of impoverished farming families in rural communities throughout Thailand.
The annual Loi Krathong festivals at the Arts and Crafts Centre help further these objectives.
Introducing the Folk Art and Crafts Center at Bang Sai
The Centre is situated on 14 acres (285 rai) of land. Farmers from Ayutthaya as well as other nearby provinces undergo training in folk arts and crafts at the Centre. Through special handicraft demonstrations, visitors to the Centre are offered a glimpse of the way of life in the 4 regions of Thailand. An extensive range of products and activities which can be seen here are: various forms of basketry, the production of artificial flowers, hand-woven silk and cotton and silk dyeing, wood carving, miniature hand-made Thai dolls, furniture making, products made from fabrics and much more. All of these products are sold at the Centre and at all branches of the "Chitralada Store", all over Thailand.
The Centre is open everyday except Mondays, from 08:30 to 16:00 hrs.
Contact information:
Bang Sai Arts and Crafts Village
Ayutthaya. Thailand
E-mail: bangsai@wnet.net.th
Website: www.bangsai.net |
