Khom Loi

            The arrival of winter in Thailand brings with it the beautiful local tradition of khom loi.  Khom Loi are paper lanterns that lift gently into the sky once they are lit, carrying away bad luck.  Although they are lit during special occasions throughout the year, they are particularly abundant during the month preceding the Loy Krathong festival. 

            So far, we have lit and released our own khom loi twice.  The first time was during dinner along the Mekong River with Tone and Heidi.  After enjoying Chiang Saen’s Saturday night market, we lit up our lantern and let it free. 

            The next time was during the foreign language department’s welcome dinner for the two new English teachers, Heidi & Nat.  Peter brought a bunch of khom loi back from his hometown, Sukohthai, so that everyone in the department could light one for themselves.  These khom loi had different wishes written on them in Thai – wealth, happiness, good luck, and so on.  We had a wonderful evening releasing the khom loi. Although everyone was able to light their own khom loi, what was most special was when the entire department joined to release one khom loi together.

    This upcoming Tuesday is the Loi Krathong festival here in Chiang Saen, and I am sure that we will have plenty more pictures of khom loi after that.