Rocket Festival

This article is about traditional rocket festivals of Laos and Thailand. For the one in Spain, see Rocket Festival Spain.
Phaya Thaen Park Saen launch racks, Yasothon, Thailand
Rockets reaching very high altitudes

The Rocket Festival (Thai: ประเพณีบุญบั้งไฟ, romanized: Prapheni Bun Bang Fai, Lao: ບຸນບັ້ງໄຟ, romanized: Bun Bang Fai) is a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced by ethnic Lao people at the beginning of the wet season in various villages and municipalities in Northeastern Thailand and Laos. The festivities typically include music and dance performances, competitive processions of floats, dancers, and musicians on the second day, and the competitive firing of homemade rockets on the third day. Local participants and sponsors take advantage of the occasion to enhance their social prestige, as is customary at traditional Buddhist folk festivals throughout Southeast Asia.[1]

Bun Bang Fai is celebrated in all provinces across Laos, but the most popular one used to be held along the bank of the Mekong river in the capital, Vientiane. However, because of considerable urbanization and safety measures, the festivals are now celebrated in nearby villages, including Naxon, Natham, Thongmang, Ban Kern, and Pakkagnoung.

The festival in Thailand also includes special programs and specific local patterns like Bang Fai (parade dance) and a Beautiful Bang Fai float such as Yasothon on the third weekend of May, and continues to Suwannaphum District, Roi Et, on the first weekend of June, and Phanom Phrai District during the full moon of the seventh month in the Lunar year's calendar each year. The Bang Fai festival is not only found in Isan, Northeasthern Thailand, North Thailand, and Laos, but also in Amphoe Sukhirin, Narathiwat.

  1. ^ Kammerer, Cornelia Ann and Tannenbaum, Nicola (1996). MERIT AND BLESSING: In Mainland Southeast Asian Comparative Perspective. New Haven (Connecticut): Yale University.: Southeast Asia Studies (Monograph 45). ISBN 0-938692-61-5.