Change the behavior of celebrating Loy Krathong this year to preserve the environment for the long term.
The Loi Krathong festival, a long-standing tradition, has a severe impact on the environment. In this changing era, what should we do to preserve this long-standing tradition and minimize its impact on the environment as much as possible?
This year’s Loi Krathong festival is almost here, a long-standing tradition that has had a huge impact on the environment. Even though the materials used to make Krathong have been changed from banana leaves to bread, these materials still cause damage to rivers and canals every year without us realizing it.
Loy Krathong tradition
The Loi Krathong tradition has existed since the past until the present. Loi Krathong is a common ritual of people in communities in Suvarnabhumi or the Southeast Asian region that has been around since ancient times to ask for forgiveness from nature, which has soil and water that nourishes, as well as plants and animals that support crops to be abundant, allowing humans to live and grow. However, there is no evidence to confirm exactly when Loi Krathong began. However, rituals related to “ghosts” who have supernatural powers have existed with people in the Suvarnabhumi community for no less than 3,000 years, since before Buddhism and Brahmanism were accepted from India.
In Thailand, Loi Krathong is a tradition that Thai people have inherited from the past to the present, although there is no clear evidence because in Sukhothai stone inscriptions and contemporary documents, there is no mention of the name “Loi Krathong”. Even in King Ramkhamhaeng’s stone inscription, there is only the name “Phao Thian Len Fai” which has a broad meaning of making merit and worshiping the Buddha. As for the royal court of Ayutthaya, which was located in a river basin that flooded for many months, it was an important center for creating water-related traditions to become the “royal traditions” of the kingdom.
There is evidence in the Palace Law that the king must travel to perform water ceremonies for the stability and prosperity of the people’s agriculture, and the royal barge procession by water was specifically for the royal ceremony. When it came to the reign of King Rama III of the Rattanakosin era, the country began to be stable, warfare almost completely disappeared, and trade became more prosperous, especially with China. King Nangklao therefore revived this important traditional ceremony for the prosperity of the kingdom.
Due to other necessities, he wrote a book. The Thao Sri Chulalak or Nang Noppamas book was created by assuming that the scene of the story took place during the reign of King Ruang of Sukhothai. The book mentions Nang Noppamas as the chief consort of King Ruang who invented the lotus-shaped banana leaf krathong. As a result, krathongs made from banana leaves instead of other materials were created and have been popularly used for floating krathongs since then.
The Loi Krathong tradition is usually held on the night of the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, when the water level is at its highest. It has various purposes, depending on the beliefs of each locality.
Materials used to make Krathong
Normally, the materials used to make Krathongs have varied from the past to the present. In the past, it was popular to use banana leaves, incense sticks, and candles to make Krathongs. But nowadays, there are Krathongs made from bread or ice cream cones so that fish in rivers or canals can eat them and to reduce the impact on the environment even more.
The impact of Loi Krathong tradition on the environment
Even though the materials used to make Krathong are made from natural materials, these materials are not naturally biodegradable. Some materials used to make Krathong, such as staples and pins, cannot be recycled and are harmful to aquatic animals. As a result, the water is polluted and the water quality is poor. Even though these materials can be degraded, if they are in the water for a long time, they will become waste and pollute the environment.
If you still want to float a krathong but don’t want to impact the environment, what should you do?
Currently, there are changes to the method of floating krathongs to avoid impacting the environment, such as floating krathongs online, which not only does not impact the environment, but also allows you to choose the style of the krathong. In 2024, Bangkok announced a ban on floating krathongs made from bread and foam, and is campaigning to use krathongs made from natural materials and to float 1 group, 1 family, 1 krathong.
Many people may wonder, can’t fish eat bread? If it floats, fish will eat it anyway….That’s right, fish can eat bread. But if there is too much, fish can’t eat it all. In the end, the remaining bread scraps will sink and become food waste that will make the water even more polluted. It will also take longer to restore the water source. Because if we float the bread krathong for 1 night, we will pollute the water for 3 months.
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