Both the king and queen are hospitalised and the royal chamberlain, Distorn Vajarodaya, deputised at the actual launch. The chamberlain led a team of staff in carrying the royal krathongs to the pier at the city’s Siriraj Hospital where they performed the symbolic launching.
The krathongs were made from light wood and decorated with a lotus-flower pattern fashioned out of tree-bark. The flowers atop the two craft were two different colours, yellow for the king and blue for the queen.
The chamberlain also launched krathongs for other royal family members who were otherwise engaged. The launching of the krathongs is an ancient rite dating back centuries. Legend has it that it was a way of saying sorry to the water gods for dirtying their water over the previous 12 months. Loy Krathong Festival falls on the 12th month of the old lunar calendar and this is usually in November.
Some locations in Thailand stage their celebrations over several days. In Bangkok as well as Chiang Mai residents and tourists will still be able to launch krathongs tonight and also witness the magical sight of illuminated air balloons (khom loy) drifting across the night sky.
Royal krathongs herald start of festival
News in Asia
Thailand’s king and queen kicked off the Loy Krathong festival celebrations in Bangkok yesterday. A tradition of the annual festival is to launch a model boat (krathong) into a river. The royal couple joined the festivities by having their krathongs launched into Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River.