Yee Peng, or Lantern Festival, in Thailand is one of the most incredible visual of lighted lanterns. Traditional belief has it that when these lantern hot air balloons are set adrift and float away, so do the troubles of the persons who launched the balloon.
According to Thai tradition, “the festival is northern Thailand’s version of ‘Loy Kratong’ celebration.” The event also include a Lantern contest, light and sound presentations, raft competitions, row boat races and various kinds of local plays and performances.
Yee Peng literally means the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month and the Chiang Mai ‘Yipeng’ and ‘Loi Krathong’, the Festival of Lights is organised annually by the Chiang Mai Municipality in Thailand. On the full moon night, the “krathong” or banana leaf boat contest is being organised by the Youth Club from various temples in Chiang Mai. While traditional krathong were made exclusively from banana leaves, today the krathong come in all shapes and sizes and are made from a broad range of material including coconut and banana trees. Following the contest, the krathong are set afloat on the Ping River in Chiangmai.