This year, Loy Krathong falls on the 8th November and Yi Peng on the 9th November, but as the major cities build up with tourists who are looking for the beautiful celebrations, events will begin as early as the 5th November. If you are in the city, you will already see Chiang Mai citizens have began decorating their homes, businesses and temples with colourful lanterns. One of the main places to check out is the hanging of lanterns at Three Kings Monument.
Loy Krathong is celebrated when the rice harvest season ends and to thank the water goddess for a year’s supply of water and also to ask for an apology for polluting the waters.
Yi Peng closely follows Loy Krathong and initially was celebrated to represent the transitioning of dark days in the monsoon season to lighter days in the dry season.
Loy Krathong and Yi Peng are always celebrated together and they are celebrated when the evening of the full moon of the 12th month falls according to the traditional lunar calendar. The festival usually takes place when monsoon has ended and the dry and cool season beings to fall.
We are in Chiang Mai and have been doing tons of research on where best to celebrate these two beautiful occasions for FREE & this is our plan for the next few days. For other events, you can find these here.
Monday 7th November:
Festival begins in the city at Three Kings Monument and at Tha Pae Gate at 6:00/6:30pm on the 7th November, with the first candle lighting ceremony and the official opening ceremony at 7pm. The Yi Peng Lantern Procession will start around 7:00 pm and will move from Tha Pae Road to the Night Bazaar.
Tuesday 8th November
The festival continues on 8th with a traditional floating ceremony as a mark of respect to the Ping River, this takes place by the Ping River in front of the Municipality Office. At 7pm there will be a Lanna Lantern parade taking place at Tha Pae Gate.
Wednesday 9th November
On the final day of this festival there will be a large Krathong parade at 7pm at Tha Pae Gate followed by a firework display at 8:30pm at Sri Khong Temple on the Ping River.
There has been a lot of articles about whether lanterns will be released this year due to large crowds, you may be able to join the locals at the Mae Ping River, ask around if and when they are doing a lantern release. To guarantee seeing one, we recommend attending the following paid event:
Yi Peng 2022 – Lantern Festival Chiang Mai by CAD (The CAD Cultural Centre Lanna Ethnicity)
3500 tickets available each day
Starting 4300 Baht
Hope you found this info helpful and tag us on social media @undiscvered if you manage to catch any of the beautiful sights!
Serena & Anish
#undiscvered
