Our completed Krathong
The ancient festival of Loy Krathong is an important celebration in the Thai Buddhist calendar. It usually takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November, and this year it will be celebrated on November 28th.
Loy in Thai language means ‘to float,’ while the krathong is the lotus-shaped container which is filled with offerings to the water spirits which is believed to bring good luck on the person floating the krathong.
The candle on the raft is an act of veneration to Buddha. Floating away the raft is symbolic of letting go of all one’s anger and negative traits, so that one can start life anew with a more positive outlook. Some people cut their fingernails and hair and add them to the raft to reinforce this symbology of letting go of the bad parts of oneself. Many Thai believe that floating a raft will bring good luck, and they do it to honor and thank the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae Khongkha (Thai: พระแม่คงคา).
Originally, the krathong was made from banana leaves with the layers of the trunk of a banana tree as a base. Modern krathongs are also sometimes made of bread or styrofoam. A bread krathong will disintegrate in a few a days and be eaten by fish and other animals – this is a good thing as it is biodegradable – just like the traditional krathongs made from banana leaves. Unfortunately the same can not be said for the styrofoam varieties – so please steer clear of those you may see being sold in the market.
The Passage Samui as an environmentally friendly resort urges all ‘Loy Kratongers’ to build their own Krathong in the traditional, time honored fashion to ensure our rivers and canals stay clean and healthy for our children.
This guide will show you how to make your Krathong in the traditional way – from banana leaves. It’s a lot of fun and will leave you with a deep sense of satisfaction when completed! Let’s make a krathong today!
Make a krathong: what you need.
What you need
Here’s the list of items that we’ll need to make our beautiful little raft.
- Banana leaf (Cut into 20 rectangles)
- Banana trunk cut horizontally so it is a circular shape (this forms the base of our raft)
- Thin gauge wire
- Marigolds or nice flower (6-8 pieces)
- Orchid flower (9-18 pieces)
- Cocktail sticks (for each flower)
- Incense Sticks (3 pieces)
- Candle
- Small Office Stapler
- Scissors
Overview:
- Preparation
- Build the Raft
- Decorate the Raft
Ok, let’s begin our preparation!
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 1.
Staple 3 strips of banana leaf around the banana trunk to make a base as shown below:
Banana trunk base
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 2.
Insert cocktail sticks through the centre of all flowers to enable them to be attached to our raft later.
Orchids with cocktail stick
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 3.
Cut banana leaf into twenty strips that look like picture below:
Banana leaf cut (20 pieces)
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 4.
Now we will use these banana leaf strips to create 17 beautifully shaped mini leaves.
First fold the leaf as shown:
Banana Leaf Fold 1
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 5.
Next fold the other side together to make a point as shown:
Banana Leaf Fold 2
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 6.
Then fold the lower half around to make a curved leaf shape
Banana leaf fold 3
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 7.
Secure left half in place with a staple on the left side.
Banana leaf staple 1
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 8.
Secure right half in place with a staple on the right side.
Banana Leaf Staple 2
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 9.
Tidy up the excess with scissors
Tidy the excess around the bottom of the leaf
Make Krathong: Preparation Step 10.
The final leaf should look something like this:
Final leaf ready for decorating!
Now repeat the above steps from 4-10 until we have 17 leafs as shown above then your preparation is now complete and we are ready to build our raft.
Building the raft
Banana base plus leaves plus wire
Make Krathong: Build Raft Step 1.
Start attaching your leaves around the edges of the base to make a star shape. On one side of the base create a small basket as shown below:
Attach leaves to the base with wire
Make Krathong: Build Raft Step 2.
Start attaching your leaves around the edges of the base to make a star shape. On one side of the base create a small basket as shown below:
Building the raft
Make Krathong: Build Raft Step 3.
The finished raft should look something like this:
Completed basket
Now, our raft is complete, it’s time for the most fun part – decorating the raft!
Decorate The Raft
Make Krathong: Decorate the Raft – Step 1.
Start attaching orchids around the edge of the raft – above each pointed leaf as shown:
Attach flowers
Make Krathong: Decorate the Raft – Step 2.
Using the cocktail stick attached to the candle fix the candle in the centre of the base, add the incense sticks close to the candle and finally surround the two with marigold flowers, using the cocktail sticks to attach them.
Attach candle, incense sticks and marigolds inside the basket
Make Krathong: Decorate the Raft – Step 3.
If your tired, you could stop here – it’s quite pretty looking.
Almost completed Krathong
Make Krathong: Decorate the Raft – Step 4.
But we are not settling for ‘just good enough’ here at The Passage we want the ultimate krathong! So using the rest of your leaves to go around the edge of the base and add more flowers to leave you with the final krathong as shown in the photograph.
Our completed Krathong
Congratulations! You’ve made your first Krathong!
If you made it this far – congratulations – you’ve demonstrated great patience and hopefully made a thing of beauty! Now amaze your friends by showing them your handiwork… take a photograph and post it to your facebook (be sure to tag @THE PASSAGE SAMUI in the photo so we can see your awesome design)
If you enjoyed this guide, please share it with your friends or just leave us a comment below on how you did. We’d love to hear your feedback! The traditional Thai technique to make Kratongs is now yours to share and you too can float your krathong together with your stresses and strains down the river and look forward to a happier life!
Ready for Loy Krathong
We also found this helpful video that also shows you how to make a krathong in a slightly different style:
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