Beautiful and magnificent, Nakhon Phanom opens the first night of the Loi Krathong festival, organizing a grand boat show to whet the appetite, attract tourists, and stimulate the economy during the end of Buddhist Lent.
At the bank of the Mekong River, Sunthonwichit Road, Nakhon Phanom Municipality, Dr. Thanom Tathong, Vice President of Nakhon Phanom University, along with Mr. Sano Labha, a fire boat artist, and the fire boat team from Nakhon Phanom University, brought the five-tiered offering of flowers, incense, and candles, said a prayer of forgiveness to the sacred objects, and worshipped the Naga before starting to light the fire boat lanterns.
This year, Nakhon Phanom University supported the construction of a floating boat show, approximately 40 meters long and 20 meters high, consisting of almost 5,000 lanterns, with a budget of over 400,000 baht. The floating boats will rotate for 3 nights: October 8, 11, and 15, with a total budget of over 1.2 million baht. The hope is to create awareness for st
udents to participate in preserving local traditions.
The design of the fire boat represents the institutions of the nation, religion, the monarchy, and the important symbol of the province, which is Phra That Phanom, as well as important tourist attractions. There is also a fire boat show from the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization, which is an appetizer for the first night of tourism. In addition to its magnificent beauty, the charm of the fire boat is the lighting of lanterns made from local wisdom, which uses coffee cans, which are leftover materials, to put in a special formula of fuel. The lanterns must be lit one by one until they are complete (almost 5,000 lanterns), which takes hours. This symbolizes unity and participation from all sectors before flowing to worship along the Mekong River to worship the Naga and the sacred things in the Mekong River.
The annual Nakhon Phanom Loi Krathong and Charity Fair 2024 will be held until October 18. In addition to the Krathong lights from N
akhon Phanom University and the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Nakhon Phanom Office, also supports the display of ancient Krathong lights decorated with LED lights, which are a replica of the Krathong lights of the 8 Phra That of the day of birth, totaling 8 boats, to join the event.
The highlight of the event is on the night of Ok Phansa, which is October 17th. There will be a royal trophy boat racing competition, with 12 boats from boat racing artists from all 12 districts of Nakhon Phanom Province. It is expected that there will be no less than 100,000 Thai and foreign tourists visiting the area.
Source: Thai News Agency