กระทง

The Thai word grà-tong (กระทง) refers to a small vessel or container, specifically a banana-leaf cup or basket — a container made from folded or woven banana leaves used to hold offerings, food, or ceremonial objects. The word's root likely connects to an older Mon-Khmer term for a vessel or hollow container; the specific craft of folding banana leaves into cups and boats is shared across Southeast Asian cultures and predates any single national tradition. The Loi Krathong festival (ลอยกระทง) — Loi meaning 'to float' — takes its name from the floating of these leaf-boats on water during the full moon of the twelfth lunar month.

The origin of Loi Krathong is contested but tradition credits it to a court lady named Nang Nopphamat, who is said to have made a beautiful lotus-shaped krathong for King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai in the 13th or 14th century CE. Historians are skeptical: the story may be a later elaboration, and similar water-offering ceremonies involving floating lights and leaf boats existed across mainland Southeast Asia — in Lao, Burmese, and Cambodian traditions — before any documented Thai royal patronage. What is not contested is that the festival was well-established by the Ayutthaya period and has been celebrated continuously since.

A traditional krathong is made from a cross-section of banana trunk as a base, with banana leaves folded and pinned around it to create a boat shape, then decorated with folded banana-leaf flowers, fresh flowers (marigolds, lotus), incense sticks, candles, and sometimes a small coin or a lock of hair. The floating of the krathong on the river is understood as releasing bad luck, negative karma, and past wrongdoings — the water carries away what you wish to let go. The candle burns until it goes out on its own or the krathong sinks. Elaborate krathongs, made by schools and communities in competition, can be the size of a dinner table and decorated with intricate leaf sculpture.

In the 21st century, Loi Krathong has attracted international tourism, and the krathong itself has become a symbol of Thai identity marketed globally — appearing in tourist photography, hotel promotions, and airline in-flight magazines as an icon of 'magical Thailand.' The banana-leaf original has been supplemented (and in some areas supplanted) by Styrofoam and bread krathongs, the latter marketed as fish food after the festival. Environmental concerns about river pollution from millions of candles, incense, flowers, and sometimes Styrofoam have generated public campaigns for biodegradable materials. The ancient leaf-boat navigates modernity.