Loi Krathong

Tonight we went to the Loi Krathong celebration. It's a holiday following the lunar calendar where people send off banana leaf floats into the river to thank the river goddess. Usually the float is decorated with flowers and holds a candle and incense. Often people will put a coin on the float for prosperity in the year to come.

If I understand correctly, there's also an aspect of asking forgiveness for polluting the water or sins from the past year involved in the ceremony. Which is a bit ironic because often the floats are made out of styrofoam which obviously results in a more polluted river. The day after, people usually go collect all the leftovers from the festivities. More and more people are choosing to us only natural products or even bread for the fish to nibble away at.