Randomness

Candle festival is both a ceremonious and religious event, held on two days, Asanha Bucha and Khao Phansa days. Marking the beginning of the Buddhist Lent Period, the pious donate essential supplies for monks’ personal use and also candles that they use to dispel gloom in the temples.

On the first day, Asanha Bucha day, the candles are taken to Thung Si Mueng Park from the different temples and institutions, where they are decorated and exhibited in the evening.

On the morning of Khao Phansa day, the candles are paraded through the city center on wagon floats.

It takes about three months to carve the candles. Though, the period actually depends on the size of the candle. Prior to beginning their work, the community or institution members involved, agree on the theme they would like to make. Thereafter, the artisan draws out the design. Themes are mostly interesting characters from tales and folklores.

Skilled artisans create incredible wax structures, depicting figures from Buddhist mythology. Candles can be nearly 20 meters in height. Carving is usually the most time consuming. In some instances, instead of directly carving the candles, they carve small patterns separately, then patch them onto the candles. They use hair dryers to heat them up a little so that they are easier to stick.

Candles are important to Thai people in merit making and celebrating events rooting from the diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. Long before the electricity era, Thai Buddhists donated candles to the monks to ensure they had light to study in the Lent period. After the arrival of electricity, the candles became more decorative. Eventually, local communities began outdoing each other in friendly contests.

The candle parade is the main source of entertainment. Intricately-carved candle sculptures are shown off with music and dance. The wagon floats are beautifully decorated. There is usually a contest with prizes for the most impressive candle wax sculptures. In the procession, there are dancers in traditional Isan clothes and local artists playing Isan musical instruments such as the phin, mouth organ and klong yao.

As I was walking on the streets during the parade, I was taken aback by the exquisite wax sculptures. Furthermore, I was mesmerized by how long some wagon floats were. The streets were crowded by Thai people and lots of tourists seeking to partake in Thai culture.

Buddhist Lent period begins in July and lasts for three months. To the monks, it is a period of retreat and reflection, where they stay in their temples to study and meditate while strictly adhering to the teachings of the Lord Buddha. It is also during this period that many Thai young men are ordained as monks.