Loy Krathong and floating flower offerings

What it is

A krathong is about the size of a dinner plate. Its base is a slice of banana trunk, which floats well. Strips of banana leaf are folded into points and pinned around the edge so that it looks like an open lotus. The centre is filled with flowers, three sticks of incense and a candle. Some people add a coin or a clipping of hair or nail. At the water's edge they light the candle and incense, make a wish, and push the raft out.

What it means

Most Thais describe the act as thanks to the goddess of water, Phra Mae Khongkha, and an apology for having used and dirtied her rivers. It is also a way to let bad luck float away. A popular story credits the first krathong to Nang Nopphamat, a lady of the court of Sukhothai. Historians regard her tale as a later literary invention. The festival falls at the end of the rainy season, when the rivers are full.

How it is made

The banana trunk slice is wrapped in banana leaf to hide the pale core. Leaf strips are folded into small triangles and fixed around the rim in one or more layers with pins or wooden picks. Marigolds, globe amaranth, orchids, lotus buds and crown flowers are pushed into the top. Because so many rafts end up in the water, cities ask people to use only natural materials. Krathong made of bread, which fish can eat, are also sold. Foam bases are discouraged or banned.

On the Ganges

At Haridwar, Rishikesh and Varanasi, in northern India, worshippers buy a small bowl made of stitched leaves, filled with rose and marigold petals and a wick in ghee or a small candle. During the evening lamp ceremony on the river steps they light it and set it on the current as an offering to the river goddess Ganga. Hundreds of these small lights drift downstream together after dark.

How to take part

1. Buy a krathong from a street stall on the day, or join a workshop and fold your own.
2. Check that it is made of banana trunk or bread, not foam.
3. At the water, light the candle and incense, hold the raft up briefly, then set it down gently and push it off.
4. In Chiang Mai, the Yi Peng lantern festival takes place on the same nights.

Good manners

• Do not fish other people's krathong out of the water or take coins from them.
• Riverbanks are crowded and slippery. Give way to children and older people at the steps.

The flowers

Loy KrathongThe Thai festival of floating candle-lit baskets on waterAztec marigoldThe golden-yellow flower of Mexican altars and Day of the Dead offeringsGlobe amaranthA round-flowered annual grown for its lasting, colorful bloomsSacred lotusThe pink aquatic flower sacred in Asia and grown for food, worship and beautyDendrobiumA vast genus of orchids found from the Himalayas to Australia and the PacificCrown flowerA tall shrub with waxy white or lavender flowers and milky sapRoseWoody perennial plants with showy, often fragrant flowers in many colours

Sources and further reading

• Loy Krathong on Wikipedia