Thirty public parks in Bangkok to open for Loy Krathong festival

Bangkok will open 30 public parks for the forthcoming Loy Krathong Festival, which is set to take place on November 11.

Thai Residents reports that the parks will enable both locals and tourists to participate in the festival by floating krathongs in the parks’ ponds.

A krathong is a floating container that holds various items including incense sticks, a candle, and a coin, often with strands of hair or fingernail clippings added. The latter items are included as a symbol of letting go of past negativity.

Krathongs were traditionally fashioned from banana leaves but in later years, less environmentally-friendly materials such as Styrofoam began to be incorporated.

It’s now hoped that opening more parks will encourage festival-goers to use the pools and ponds in the parks instead of releasing krathongs in the city’s rivers and natural waterways where they end up being a source of pollution. By contrast, krathongs placed in the parks’ ponds can later be removed by city workers.

The Loy Krathong celebrations will begin before sunrise at 5.00am, with the parks remaining open until midnight.

SOURCE: thairesidents.com