Making a Kratong

Last night was Loi Kratong, the traditional Thai river festival and festival of lights. It's one of my favorite nights of the year, and is my favorite traditional Thai festivals.

When dark fell, we headed out to the annual River Festival (more on that in a later post).

materials for building a kratong

Of course, in order to celebrate Loi Kratong, you first need to have a kratong! In the past, I've bought a pre-made kratong, a sort of floating basket which you place in the river as a lantern to make a wish, but this year, my wife and I decided to make our own. On the way home from work the other day, she bought a kit containing a disc cut from a banana stalk, some large waxy banana leaves, and a bag of flowers.

marigolds and orchids

Since neither Pinky nor I had ever made our own kratong before, we found a tutorial on YouTube with detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make a simple kratong. Designs can get extremely complicated, but we wanted something that was traditional and not too difficult to make.

decorating the banana stalk with folded banana leaves

First, we had to tear off segments of the banana leaves and fold them into flattened cones, which we then pinned and stapled onto the banana stalk. This is the base of our "basket". We made two layers of leaves in a staggered crownlike formation.

we decorated the kratong with two layers of folded banana leaves

Next, we had to decorate with the flowers -  specifically marigolds and purple orchid blossoms! Both of these flowers are very popular in Thai culture.

next, it's time to decorate

It was too difficult to pin the flowers in place, so we gently arranged them within the basket we had created from the banana leaves. 

flowers, incense, and candles

Finally, no kratong is complete without a candle and three sticks of incense. The kratong, after all, is a basket meant as an offering to the river. It carries with it your prayers and wishes as well as your thanks to the river for its lifegiving water.

our finished kratong

It didn't take very long, and it was way more fun to make our own kratong than to buy one. It might not be perfect, but that's part of what made our little kratong so special!

ready for the festival!

Happy Loi Kratong, everyone!

Happy Loi Kratong!