The first time I saw a photo of the mass lantern release at the Yee Peng festival (or is it the Loy Krathong festival?), I wanted to go. I then spent many confusing hours online, trying to figure out what and when and where and how. This is what I learned:
- Loy Krathong or Loi Krathong (literally, float + basket or container) is celebrated throughout Thailand on the full moon of the 12th lunar month (typically November). At night, krathongs – buoyant banana tree, bread or styrofoam (!) bases decorated with elaborately folded banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense sticks – are set adrift in lakes, rivers and canals, taking wishes and negative thoughts away with them.
- Yee Peng or Yi Peng is a northern Thai festival that's celebrated on the full moon of the second month of the Lanna (northern Thai) lunar calendar, and usually coincides with Loy Krathong, making Chiang Mai the perfect place to experience both at once. According to Buddhist tradition, Yee Peng is an auspicious time to make merit with good thoughts and deeds.
- Chiang Mai is filled with colorful lanterns during Yee Peng, and releasing paper sky lanterns has become synonymous with the festival, but the exact origins of this tradition are hazy; it appears to have more to do with tourism than Buddhism.
- The "mass lantern release" we see on Pinterest and Instagram is part of the Yee Peng festival, but it's not one event; different groups organize "mass lantern release" events around Chiang Mai. The most famous mass lantern release is hosted by Buddhist monks behind Mae Jo University, but it's not guaranteed to happen each year; if and when the date is settled, tickets disappear in hours.
- Other groups now host mass lantern release events around Chiang Mai, selling blocks of tickets to local tour companies, who sell them to keen foreigners like me. I spent C$200 for a VIP seat at the mass lantern release at the Chiang Mai Cowboy Army Riding Club in 2018, with a promise of VIP transportation, two paper lanterns, Lanna food and cultural performances. Find out if it was worth the money in this blog post.
- Want the cheap-and-easy option? If you just want to see some paper lanterns being floated (or float one yourself), simply visit Chiang Mai during the Loy Krathong / Yee Peng festivities. You can buy lanterns on every street, and every night you will see one, two, dozens and even hundreds of lanterns floating into the sky... but it's not the same as attending a mass lantern release, believe me.
- Worried about the environmental damage from Loy Krathong and Yee Peng? You're not alone. Regulations have restricted the use of paper lanterns in some parts of Thailand, but apparently not Chiang Mai. As much as the sight of thousands of paper lanterns is stunningly beautiful, the sight of thousands of fallen paper lanterns and soggy krathongs is discomfiting. I was torn about participating.