Thailand Events Calendar

Many festivals are linked to agricultural seasons or to Buddhist or Brahman rituals and follow a lunar calendar. New Year/Songkran, is celebrated in mid-April by ‘bathing’ Buddha images, paying respects to monks and elders by sprinkling water over their hands, and generally tossing water in the air for fun. Expect to get soaked, unless you’d prefer to skulk in your room. The sowing and harvesting of rice has given rise to a cycle of festivals. To kick off the official rice-planting season in June, the king participates in an ancient Brahman ritual in a large field (Sanam Luang) in central Bangkok. A Rocket Festival is also held in June in the country’s northeast, using a volatile mixture of bamboo and gunpowder to convince the sky to send rain for the new rice season; and the rice harvest from September through to May leads to joyous local celebrations throughout Thailand.

The Vegetarian Festival in Phuket and Trang, during which devout Chinese Buddhists eat only vegetarian food, runs for nine days from late September to early October. Merit-making processions are the most visible expression of this festival, but there are also ceremonies at Chinese temples. The Elephant Roundup in Surin in November is a festival popular with the kind of people who enjoy watching pachyderms play soccer. During the Loi Krathong Festival, held after the rainy season (usually in November), candle-lit floats are cast into waterways to bring good fortune for the coming year. Bangkok and Thailand’s northern provinces are especially good places to catch this celebration.

The exact dates for festivals may vary from year to year, either because of the lunar calendar or because local authorities have decided to change festival dates. For specific dates, contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT; www.tourismthailand.org).

January

That Phanom Festival

Jan/Feb

festival/event

A 10-day homage to the northeast’s most sacred Buddhist stupa (Phra That Phanom) in Nakhon Phanom Province. Pilgrims from all over the country, as well as from Laos, attend.

Bangkok International Film Festival

Jan/Feb

festival/event

Films from around the world, with an emphasis on Asian cinema, are screened in the capital. Events end with the awarding of the festival’s Golden Kinnaree in a range of categories (www.bangkok film.org).

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

Jan/Feb

festival/event

Colourful floats and parades exhibit Chiang Mai’s cultivated flora.

Phra Nakhon Khiri Diamond Festival

Jan/Feb

festival/event

This week-long celebration of Phetchaburi’s history and architecture focuses on Phra Nakhon Khiri Historical Park, a hill topped by a former royal palace overlooking the city. It features a sound-and-light show and presentations of Thai classical dance-drama.

Chinese New Year

Jan/Feb

festival/event

Called trùt jiin in Thai, Chinese all over Thailand celebrate their lunar New Year with a week of house-cleaning, lion dances and fireworks.

New Year’s Day

1 Jan

official holiday

Magha Puja

Jan/Feb

official holiday

Held on the full moon of the third lunar month to commemorate Buddha preaching to 1250 enlightened monks who came to hear him ‘without prior summons’. A public holiday throughout the country, it culminates with a candle-lit walk around the wian thian (main chapel) at every wat.

April

Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung Festival

April

festival/event

Commemorates Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung Historical Park, an impressive Angkor-style temple complex in Buriram Province. It involves a daytime procession up Phanom Rung and spectacular sound-and-light shows at night.

Songkran

13 Apr 15 Apr

festival/event

Celebration of the lunar New Year.

Chakri Day

6 Apr

official holiday

Commemorates the founder of the Chakri dynasty, Rama I.

June

Bun Phra Wet (Phi Ta Khon) Festival

Jun

festival/event

An animist- Buddhist celebration, held in Loei’s Amphoe Dan Sai, in which revellers dress in garish ’spirit’ costumes, wear painted masks and brandish carved wooden phalluses. The festival commemorates a Buddhist legend in which a host of spirits ( phǐi ) appeared to greet the Buddha-to-be upon his return to his home town, during his penultimate birth.

Rocket Festival

Jun

festival/event

In the northeast, villagers craft large skyrockets of bamboo, which they then fire into the sky to bring rain for rice fields. Best celebrated in Yasothon, Ubon Ratchathani and Nong Khai.

Royal Ploughing Ceremony

Jun

festival/event

To kick off the official rice-planting season, the king participates in this ancient Brahman ritual at Sanam Luang in Bangkok, broadcast on national television.

July

Asalha Puja

Jul

festival/event

Commemorates the Buddha’s first sermon.

Khao Phansa

mid to late Jul

official holiday

The beginning of Buddhist ‘Lent’, this is the traditional time of year for young men to enter the monkhood for the rainy season and for all monks to station themselves in a monastery for three months. Khao Phansa is celebrated in the northeast of Ubon Ratchathani by parading huge carved candles on floats in the streets.

August

Queen’s Birthday

12 Aug

official holiday

In Bangkok, Th Ratchadamnoen Klang and the Grand Palace are festooned with coloured lights.

September

Narathiwat Fair

Sep/Oct

festival/event

An annual week-long festival celebrating local culture in Narathiwat Province, with boat races, dove-singing contests, handicraft displays and traditional southern Thai music and dance.

Thailand International Swan-Boat Races

Sep/Oct

festival/event

These take place on Mae Nam Chao Phraya outside of Ayuthaya near the Bang Sai Folk Arts Centre.

Vegetarian Festival

Sep/Oct

festival/event

The various ceremonies at Chinese temples and merit-making processions involved in this nine-day festival bring to mind Hindu Thaipusam in its exhibition of self-mortification.

October

Chulalongkorn Day

23 Oct

official holiday

November

Kathin

Nov

festival/event

A month at the end of the Buddhist ‘Lent’ during which new monastic robes and requisites are offered to the Sangha (monastic community). In Nan Province longboat races are held on Mae Nan.

Loi Krathong

Nov

festival/event

On the proper full-moon night, small lotus-shaped baskets or boats made of banana leaves containing flowers, incense, candles and a coin are floated on Thai rivers, lakes and canals. This peculiarly Thai festival probably originated in Sukhothai and is best celebrated in the north.

Surin Annual Elephant Roundup

Nov

festival/event

Held on the third weekend of November, Thailand’s biggest elephant show is popular with tourists. If you have ever had the desire to see a lot of elephants in one place, then here’s your chance.

River Khwae Bridge Week

Nov

festival/event

Sound-and-light shows at the Death Railway Bridge in Kanchanaburi. Events include historical exhibitions and vintage-train rides on the infamous railway.

December

King’s Birthday

5 Dec

official holiday

Celebrated with fervour in Bangkok. As with the Queen’s Birthday, it features lots of lights and other decorations along Th Ratchadamnoen Klang. Other cities hold colourful parades. Some people erect temporary shrines to the king outside their homes or businesses.