Sky Lantern Festival in Thailand. Sky Lantern Festival When is the sky lantern festival in Thailand
The Yi Peng Festival fills the night sky over Thailand with the light of millions of flying lanterns.
The Sky Lantern Festival was born in the north of Thailand, as an analogue of the popular festival. Anyone can take part in it. To do this, you need to buy a paper lamp “khom loy” and launch it into the sky, not forgetting to first make a wish.
Thais believe that during the Yi Peng ceremony spiritual cleansing occurs - negative emotions, fears and misfortunes leave people. The mystical action is often led by Buddhist monks, accompanying the flight of lanterns with ritual chants.
In major cities of Thailand, the sky lantern festival includes an extensive entertainment program - costume parades, beauty pageants, street performances, concerts and competitions. Celebrations usually end with colorful fireworks.
The largest lantern festivals take place in Chiang Mai. The most popular places to celebrate Yi Peng in the capital of Northern Thailand are the square in front of the city municipality, the east gate of Tha Phae and the Buddhist monastery of Mae Jo in the suburban area of San Sai.
The Sky Lantern Festival or Chinese Lantern Festival is an annual international festival. This festival involves releasing paper lanterns into the air, which are traditionally used in some Asian cultures. Thousands of tourists from all over the world come to the cities where such festivals are held to see this amazing spectacle.
Sky lanterns are made from specially greased rice paper attached to a bamboo frame. Inside the flashlight are small candles or a fuel cell consisting of flammable materials. When candles or elements burn, the flame heats the air inside the lantern, thus reducing its density, which causes the lantern to rise into the sky. The flashlight remains in the sky while the candle burns, and then it falls to the ground. The first mention of the use of such lanterns dates back to the 3rd century BC. 
The traditional launching of Sky Lanterns can be found in three countries: China, Taiwan and Thailand. In China, lanterns are included in festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or the Zhongqiu Festival. Traditionally, the festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month according to the Chinese calendar, usually late September or early October according to the Gregorian calendar. A similar festival is also held by the Thais and Vietnamese. 
The Loi Krathong festival is traditionally celebrated in the city of Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand. This festival is held on the full moon of the twelfth month according to the lunar Thai calendar, on the full moon in the second month according to the old style of Lanna, in other words, according to the Western calendar this month is November. This festival is very popular; every year thousands of tourists from all over the world come here to worship the Goddess of Water and launch Sky Lanterns.
There are many festivals in these countries where you can see the traditional launching of Sky Lanterns, but these two festivals are considered the most popular.
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Every country in the world has its own traditional holidays and festivals, some of which are so large-scale and spectacular that they evoke an irresistible desire to visit one of them at least once in your life. We invite you to plunge into the festive atmosphere of colorful festivals and carnivals, which attract tourists from all over the world!
Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
Carnival in Rio is one of the most awaited holidays in the world. This is a crazy cocktail of colors, costumes, music, dancers and dancers.
In fact, the Rio Carnival is a parade of samba schools, which is organized by the city's Ministry of Tourism, the League of Samba Schools and the television companies broadcasting the performance.
Each school chooses a theme and designs its own moving stage, costumes, choreographs dances, and makes a presentation. At the end of the Carnival, one winning school is selected and awarded a cash prize. Studying at this school is considered very prestigious.
Holi - festival of colors in India
Holi is a celebration of the onset of spring and the blossoming of nature in India, celebrated in February or March. These days, Indians stage battles between men and women, jump over fire and swing statues of gods on swings.
But, of course, the coolest event of the holiday is sprinkling each other with colorful paints and dousing each other with water. All these colored powders are made from medicinal herbs, which during this period help fight the spread of various spring viruses.
Venice Carnival
Every year, Venice is transformed for 12 days into a gigantic stage set for one of the world's grandest and most dazzling carnivals. Unbridled fantasy, non-stop music, sleepless nights, a parade of decorated boats and masks, masks, masks...
Theatrical performances are held in Piazza San Marco, and then the celebration spills out into the narrow streets, accompanied by music, dancing and mass fun.
The carnival ends with a parade of costumes, an amazing fireworks display over the lagoon in front of Piazza San Marco, the burning of a straw effigy and dancing. And the ringing of the bells of the Church of San Francesco della Vigna announces the beginning of Lent.
Spring Festival in China
Actually, the “Spring Festival” is Chinese New Year. It starts at the end of January and lasts 40 days. These days, thousands of fireworks are launched into the sky, large-scale processions and carnivals take place. The Chinese carefully decorate their homes for the holiday, and shops and restaurants offer traditional New Year's dishes.
Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
The Chinese city of Harbin is one of the centers of ice and snow culture in the world. The international festival begins on January 5 and lasts one month.
Ice sculptures are made in the form of buildings and monuments, animals, people and mythical creatures. Lasers and flashlights are used for illumination, creating light variations against the background of sculptures that look especially beautiful at night.
Carnival in Tenerife, Spain
The carnival in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the second largest in the world after Brazil - about a million people participate in it every year. During the festival, on the streets of the city you can see ceremonial parades with participants dressed in colorful costumes, dance merrily and listen to national music. The holiday ends with the main event - the choice of the Queen. Every year a new theme is chosen for the holiday, in 2014 - cartoons.
Burning Man festival
The Burning Man art festival takes place in the last week of August in the heart of the Nevada desert. The event got its name from the tradition of burning a huge wooden statue in the form of a man. Everything is possible here, there is a mixture of music, dance, madness and extravagance, a huge number of the most incredible art objects and bright ideas.
The main thing at Burning Man is the fantastic sculptures that are lined up before the start of the festival in the area designated for activities. At the end, all works of art, without exception, are burned during marches of naked people, concerts of famous musicians and DJs.
During the festival, money circulation and movement by transport are completely prohibited on the territory. After completion, there should be nothing left on the territory that would remind of it. Participants claim that there is no similar event in the world on energy issues.
Festival of lights Diwali in India
Diwali is the festival of lights, which is celebrated in India in October-November and symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil.
Diwali is dedicated to the Goddess of wealth and fertility Lakshmi. The houses are thoroughly cleaned, all the lights are lit, because the Goddess does not like the dark, they turn to her in prayer, offer her milk in which coins are dipped, and at night they leave the doors and windows open so that it is easier for her to enter the house.
Lemon Festival in Menton, France
To prepare this unforgettable holiday, you need 130 tons of juicy citrus fruits. With their help, a real parade of fruits is created on the coast, and huge compositions of lemons, oranges and grapefruits are constructed in the city. All this is accompanied by loud music, colorful dancing and funny street performances.
Hawaii Floating Lantern Festival
Every year Hawaii celebrates Memorial Day. On this day, residents and numerous tourists come to the ocean shore to see thousands of floating lanterns and launch their own.
Lanterns released into the ocean take with them prayers for the dead and the living, for victims of conflicts, disasters, diseases, and keep hopes for universal happiness.
Flower Festival in Thailand
Once a year, provincial Chiang Mai is transformed. Crowds of tourists strive to take part in unusual processions of men and women, children, and musicians.
The holiday begins on the first Friday of February and lasts three days. At this time there are so many flowers here that it is even difficult to understand where they come from. The girls sew exotic national costumes for this event, and at the end of the festival, the most beautiful of them becomes the Queen of Flowers.
Sky Lantern Festival in Thailand
The holiday is based on the legend that when lighting a lantern, a person gains the opportunity to cleanse the soul, get in touch with ancestors, strengthen family ties or rekindle a faded feeling of love.
Fire symbolizes purification, and the flight of a lantern symbolizes the desire for the highest. Therefore, it is believed that along with lanterns, all adversities, problems and worries fly away into the sky, leaving people with only bright and good feelings.
Independent film and music festival Boomtown
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The festival is known for its amazing DJ stages, which are different every year.
Snow Festival in Sapporo
In 1950, in honor of a children's party, high school students from one of the schools in Sapporo erected six snow figures of animals. This made such an impression on passersby watching the work that since then, city residents began to build figures from snow and ice every year in early February. At first, the holiday was known only to the Japanese, but after the 11th Winter Olympic Games in 1972 in Sapporo, the festival gained worldwide popularity.
The tradition of launching sky lanterns is called Yi Peng, it came from Burma and took hold in northern Thailand.
1. Many festivals and holidays in modern Thailand are associated with the worship of the spirits and forces of nature. One of them is Yi Peng Festival, which is usually held in November, on the night of the full moon of the 12th lunar month in the North of Thailand, in the city of Chiang Mai. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
2. This is a very spectacular and beautiful holiday, which consists of mass release of burning lanterns into the sky as a sign of respect to the gods. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
3. At this time, thousands of burning lanterns rise into the sky, some of very large size, which float majestically and slowly, illuminating the night sky with many lights. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
4. When launching a sky lantern, you need to make a wish. The Thais believe that a lantern will take it to the gods and it will definitely come true. Many foreign tourists come to Chiang Mai to watch this fire show and make a wish. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
5. Lanterns are made of rice paper; it looks especially beautiful against a black sky. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
7. The Yi Peng festival is not limited to lanterns alone. These are monks with candles in the city of Chiang Mai, November 14, 2016. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
8. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
9. Monks in the temple. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters):
is an amazing country, every corner of which breathes the spirit of ancient culture and is filled with centuries-old traditions. Many national holidays have come a long way in the history of the country, preserving the customs of their ancestors. Ii Peng or Sky Lantern Festival is a traditional ancient holiday in Thailand. It is celebrated every year on the full moon day of the 11th lunar month. Translated from Thai, “iy” means “second”, “peng” is translated as “month”.
On the day of Ii Peng celebration, every resident of the country necessarily launches a paper lantern into the sky, which rises and soars in the night sky thanks to a mini burner at its base. Closer to midnight, the darkness of the night over Thailand dissipates from the light of a huge number of lights floating in the sky. The lights in the sky echo the lights on the water. The fact is that the Sky Lantern Festival takes place simultaneously with another traditional ancient holiday - literally translated - “boat of leaves”. During its celebration, Thais come to the banks of rivers and lakes and launch small homemade flower and bamboo boats. In each such boat a candle burns and an incense stick smolders. If you want to go to this holiday, then you need to find out, it’s written in an accessible way and will be useful.
The history of this holiday, mesmerizing in its beauty, goes back to the distant 13th century. According to legend, by launching a paper lantern (khoi loy) into the sky, a person purifies his soul and gets a unique chance to catch the voice of his ancestors. Each Thai had his own motive. Some wanted to strengthen mutual understanding in the family, others were haunted by the hope of resurrecting lost love. For many peoples, flying into the sky meant a desire for the best, for something higher, and fire was perceived as a way of purification. To launch the flashlight, a place was chosen where its flight would not be interfered with by buildings or trees. An interrupted flight foreshadowed misfortune. Perhaps the ancestors of the Thais, launching paper lanterns into the sky, believed in getting rid of problems and illnesses. In response, they expected enlightenment and hope for the best. This legend has passed through centuries, and faith in the best lives in the hearts of the people of Thailand.
The launch of a lantern into the sky is preceded by a prayer. After praying, the Thais wrote on a piece of paper their most cherished desire, request or wish. You can also attach paper money or coins inside the flashlight. This was an opportunity to help the person who would later find the flashlight. And cases of lucky finds in Thailand occur quite often.
The Sky Lantern Festival is most popular in the northern provinces of Thailand. Residents of the north launch khoi loi during all national holidays. But you can fully experience the charm of the atmosphere of warmth and love only during the Loi Krathong Festival and holiday. On this night, Thais are filled with the most rosy emotions and faith in the bright, kind, and gentle.