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Songkran Festival (Water Festival)
Also known as Songkran Festival, the Water Festival Thailand is perhaps one of the most fun festivals in the country, and possibly in the world! This long and large festival involves a 3-day water fight in which people participate across the country. With drinking, music, dancing, and people drenched from head to toe, people use buckets, hose pipes, water guns, and anything else that they can get their hands on to use to splash water on others. Sounds fun?
Boon Bang Fai (Rocket Festival)
Also known as the Rocket Festival, this is a famous festival in Thailand that is significant to the farming communities of Issan, which is located in the north-eastern part of the country. Entire villages attend the festival because they are considered the last big ‘knees up’ before the start of the planting season. The rockets are shot up to encourage the Gods to send down plenty of rainfall. Elaborate rockets are built and paraded around on the first day of Boon Bang Fai, and then launched high into the air throughout the weekend.
Chiang Mai Flower Festival
Every year in the first week of February, Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai (known as "the rose of the north") explodes in floral wonder, with the Chiang Mai Flower Festival. Blooms indigenous to Chiang Mai and its surrounds are in abundance, including yellow and white chrysanthemums, as well as the Damask rose.
To see parades of floral floats, horticultural contests and stunning botanical displays, head to the public garden of Suan Buak Haad, where there are also vendors selling flowers such as orchids, plants and garden decorations.
The biggest parade takes place on the Saturday morning, with huge floats, traditional dances and music. Many young girls sit atop these floats, waving to the crowd - these are the candidates for the Chiang Mai Flower Festival Queen.
Mothers' Day - Queen Mother's Birthday
Thailand's monarchy is greatly revered, as shown with Mother's Day, which is on the date of the queen (now queen mother)'s birthday, and it is also a public holiday. This is a special occasion not only to celebrate the nation's mothers, but also the queen mother herself, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit.
On this day, many Thais choose to celebrate by donating offerings to monks, treating their mothers to a special meal, as well as giving cards and gifts, such as jasmine - a flower that symbolizes purity, gentleness and motherhood in Thai culture. Many schools hold special events for Mothers' Day and students' parents are invited to attend.
Loy Krathong Festival
Loy Krathong is Thailand's "Festival of Lights" and it's one of the country’s most important holidays, along with Songkran (Thai New Year).
On the evening of Loy Krathong, people gather around lakes, rivers and canals to pay respects to the goddess of water by releasing small, floating, candlelit vessels called "krathongs" onto the water.
It is believed that the krathong carries away misfortunes, signaling a fresh start.If the candle on your krathong manages to stay alight until you can no longer see it, this signifies that you will have good luck in the next year.
In Bangkok, the Chao Phraya River is the center of the Loy Krathong celebrations with cultural performances, boat processions, krathong-making workshops, firework displays and many other activities taking place. Elsewhere in Thailand, rivers, lakes and the beachfront are where you'll see people floating their krathongs.