One of Thailand’s oldest and most enjoyable festivals has officially reached its 111th anniversary. The province of Ubon Ratchathani and the Thailand Tourism Authority joined heads to celebrate the 2012 Candle Festival in the best way possible. The festival is held throughout the country, but there is nothing comparable to the unique festival in Ubon Ratchathani. Although it already began a few days ago, the festivities will continue until August 5th as observance of the Buddhist Lent.
It goes without saying that the Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival involves candles and wax. There are plenty of activities and means of entertainment to take part in, but there are only three highlighted events. These involve wax carving demonstrations from international artists, a candle parading procession through the city center, and tours of candle making communities. The wax demonstrations already occurred for this year, but all carvings are now on display in the Ubon Ratchathani National Museum. Each candle making community creates large spectacular floats to compete with other communities in the candle parade. Therefore, you can expect to see challenging artwork and can not miss this main event on August 3rd. Seventy or so candle floats will be paraded through the streets in between dancers and marching bands. These candle floats mainly represent scenes from Hindu and Buddhist mythologies and are sculpted in wood or plaster before being coated with wax.
The evenings of the candle festival are pleasant, especially on Asanha Bucha day in Thung Si Mueang Park where decorated candles shine. As another part of tradition during the festival, candles are donated to monks and monasteries. This is done to give preparation to the rainy season when electricity tends to give out.
Candle making and sculpting are forms of art that has put Ubon Ratchathani on the map. Only 600km from Bangkok, it is easily reachable and worth a visit anytime of the year for several attractions besides the enjoyable Candle Festival.
Photo by Marshall Astor – Food Fetishist
