The Loy Krathong festival, which falls on Friday this year (19 November 2021) is one of the most picturesque festivals that is celebrated in Thailand and also by the larger Thai communities in other countries including those in certain areas of Malaysia.
This festival has its roots as a Brahminical festival to honour the Goddess Ganga (Phra Mae Khongkha - พระแม่คงคา), and is celebrated on the full moon night of the twelfth month of the Thai calendar, which usually falls within the month of November in the Gregorian calendar.
The festival also coincide with the Lanna (Northern Thailand) festival of Yi Peng, where they release sky lanterns (basically identical to the Chinese Kung Ming lantern), and is now celebrated as one amalgamated festival in Northern Thailand.
Whilst Thailand is celebrating the festival on a big scale as they have started to reopen to tourist post Covid-19 pandemic, the same can't be said for Malaysia; where it would not be publicly celebrated by the Thai communities in Klang Valley and in Penang this year due to concerns of the pandemic.
So in this post are a few pictures from the festival in Penang (at Gurney Drive) taken in 2014, and hoping that the festival will make a comeback here in Malaysia next year. Happy Loy Krathong!
 | Flower Power... Krathong with lovely flowers
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 | Lighting up the krathongs...
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 | Say a little prayer for you...
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| Let it go, let it go...
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