Udon Thani Timeisaan festival
isaan festival
isaan festival
There are no shortages of festivals in Isaan, whether they are recurring events, or apparent ‘one-offs’ like the 2009 Mekong Export Festival that was held in March at Thung Sri Mueng, Udon Thani Province “to boost trade with Laos following the first-ever fall in bilateral commerce.”
(One Farang visitor left this record in his blog.)
A very big annual festival is the Rocket Festival (Bung Fai). There are actually more than one, since it is celebrated all over Isaan, and on various dates, depending on the locale.
Some accounts are available here, here, here, and here.
A nice collection of some photos taken at one venue are here.
Float in parade: Rocket Festival, Yasothon, Isaan, Thailand (Photo by frogblog)
Popular also are different Food Festivals. Would you be courageous enough to give grilled rat a try? — check out this video for the TV series Bizarre Foods.
On this Web page explaining the Candle Festival, there are links to various other festivals. An nice album of Candle Festival photos is here. And a further good description of the festival is here.
A further rundown of some festivals are here and here. And the ThailandQua forum began a thread in 2008 called “The List”: Festivals and Events in Isaan; Regular Updates.
A festival of a more localized type is the Phimai Festival: Prasat Hin Phimai, home to the Siamese cat, hosts its annual Phimai Festival. Expect local art and cultural performances, long-boat races, cooking and folk-song competitions, and the ubiquitous Thai sound and light show at the Prasat Hin Phimai ruins.
You can find out a bit more about it here, and most certainly here at its official site.
Surely I don’t have to mention Songkran?
Photo by Duncan Travers
Photo by Duncan Travers
Photo by Duncan Travers
I wish the Isaan Seed Exchange Festival of 2009 would become an established annual event — anything to fight the insidious spread of Monsanto-style genetic monopolization and ‘homogenization’ of crops. There are a number of excellent photo albums spotlighting this and related events in Isaan here.
But I’m sure this isn’t what tourists have in mind when the word “festival” is trotted out. Likewise for the Human Rights Festival held in December, 2009, at Khon Kaen. It seems there is a considerable activist movement amongst Isaan university students.
More in line with traditional festivals, but possibly unfamiliar to the general reader, are those such as Boon Khao Jee, Boon Khao Pansa, and Phi Ta Korn — you can read of them here.
Of course, even the Isaan celebrate a New Year’s Festival. A blogger writes here of the one he attended in January of this year.
I know I was haphazard with this post, but I hope I covered enough to keep the average reader more than slightly occupied and entertained.
Yasothon Rocket Festival
jkn1960 | December 29, 2006
The Yasothon Rocket Festival takes place in Yasothon, Thailand every year in May. The main event is a competition between various teams who build rockets of different sizes and lets them off. Safety is a secondary concern to getting drunk and having a good time. It is surprising that there aren’t more accidents. It is chaos out in that field!
This rocket explodes spectacularly in mid-air. It’s not supposed to do that.
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Tags: Festivals, Folk music, Isan, Laos, Rocket Festival, Television, Television program, thailand
