Rocket Festival
The Rocket Festival 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.
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 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, Northeastern Thailand, North Thailand, and Laos, but also in Amphoe Sukhirin, Narathiwat.
History
These Buddhist festivals are presumed to have evolved from pre-Buddhist fertility rites held to celebrate and encourage the coming of the rains, from before the 9th century invention of black powder. This festival displays some earthy elements of Lao folklore. Bun Bang Fai originates from ancient times when ethnic Lao people believed in many gods and is mentioned in tales, such as 'The Tale of Pha Daeng–Nang Ai' and 'The Tale of Phaya Khankhak'. In the literature of Laos, such stories refer to the firing of rockets to the heavens to communicate with the God of Rain and persuade him to send the rains to the earth in a timely fashion for cultivation.Early European explorers who passed through Laos in the 1800s recorded witnessing the rocket festivals in the country. Louis de Carné, in 1866, described a celebration in southern Laos where bamboos loaded with powder went off, producing violent explosions. Furthermore, Etienne Aymonier, visiting Laos in 1883, described Bang Phoai as strong tubes of bamboo fretted with cords, or rattans, in which powder was stuffed.
The powder was manufactured in the country by mixing ten parts of saltpeter with three pieces of wood charcoal and a part and a half of sulphur. These rockets were then deposited on trestles at the pagoda. The rockets were paraded around the temple before they were launched the next day. The celebration occurred in May or June.
Anthropology Professor Charles F. Keyes advises, "In recognition of the deep-seated meaning of certain traditions for the peoples of the societies of mainland Southeast Asia, the rulers of these societies have incorporated some indigenous symbols into the national cultures that they have worked to construct in the postcolonial period". Giving the "Bun Bang Fai or fire rocket festival of Laos", as one example, he adds that it remains "far more elaborate in the villages than in the cities".
In Laos
Bun Bang Fai is held over the sixth Lunar month, usually around May and June, coinciding with the plantation and the beginning of the rainy seasons. Several months before the festival, an organizing committee is formed in each future host village to discuss the festival. Weeks before the festival, bamboo rockets are built and decorated by monks and villagers.The festival usually lasts two days and begins early in the morning with the associated religious rituals performed by the monks in the temple. Early in the afternoon, a Buddhist procession starts in which villagers carrying money trees circle the central ordination hall, in which there is a Buddha statue, three times in a clockwise rotation on the sound of traditional music. The money trees are then offered to the monks in a Buddhist ritual believed to garner religious merit. Afterwards, rockets from all involved villages are displayed in the court of the temple, followed by a celebration with traditional music and dance that can last up to the early morning of the next day.
The second day begins with a morning ceremony of food offerings from villagers to the monks in the assembly hall of the temple. The food usually includes sticky rice, cakes, and other sweets that the faithful line up to place in the monks’ almsbowls during the sermon. In addition, other food dishes are portioned out in small bowls and offered to the monks on rattan trays. The religious leader of the village ritually presents the food to the monks by reciting the five precepts of Buddhism. The monks, in return, offer the teachings of the Buddha by chanting sutras and sermons. During the sermon, the faithful address prayers to their ancestors and do the Yaat Nam, which consists of having water blessed by a monk before pouring it, drop by drop, on the earth. After the ceremony, a meal is shared by all participants. The faithful believe these offerings grant a long life to anyone who gives with a serene heart.
Image:Laonaga.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Naga guarding the Viang Chan, Laos, Temple of Wat Si Saket, itself a survivor of an intemperate war in 1827
The religious ceremony is followed by a street parade through the village with pickup trucks displaying the rockets on the sound of the Khene, cymbals, and long drums. Teams of contestants dance and chant traditional folksong, with the team's leader chanting first and then the others repeating. Contestants are divided into groups based on the size of their rocket. The competition begins with the firing of the rockets skyward. For each rocket category, scores are given based on how high and far the rocket flies. Builders of failed rockets are thrown in a muddy pond and forced to drink Lao-Lao.
In the United States and France
Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, tens of thousands of Lao people left the country as refugees who resettled in other countries, most of them in the United States and in France. The Lao built Lao Buddhist temples to serve as cultural centers. Traditional Lao holidays such as Lao New Year and Bun Bang Fai are celebrated in addition to the official host countries’ holidays. In France, Bun Bang Fai is celebrated in Paris and other cities; there is a community of Laotians in France. Bun Bang Fai has been celebrated in Bretignolles. In the United States, there are more than forty Wat Lao.The celebration in both the United States and France lasts two days and proceeds as in Laos, beginning with a religious ceremony followed by a display and parade of rockets in the Wat with traditional Laoof Soeng Bang Faince on the Soeng Bang Fai music. Unlike in Laos, however, the procession does not conclude with the firing of the rockets, as they are not allowed to be launched because of safety measures. Instead, only small, handcrafted rockets are launched.
In the National Air and Space Museum
, curator of the Rocketry Division of the National Air and Space Museum, stated that: "Lao Rocket is special and unique that has a thousand years of traditional celebration associated with this great looking rocket. It would be wonderful to have a Lao Rocket on display in the National Air and Space Museum so that the public can learn from it."In 2005, Lao Bang Fai was chosen to be displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. The deputy abbot of Wat Lao Buddhavong in Virginia acknowledged that "this event is historic and brings recognition and visibility that all Laotians can be proud of". Bun Bang Fai was launched in 1994 by the Lao community and has been celebrated each year since. The religious ceremonies are performed inside the museum on the campus of the University of Washington.
In Northeastern Thailand
Villages may have floats conveying government messages. They may also include fairs. In recent years, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has promoted the events, particularly in the Thai provinces of Nong Khai and Yasothon. The Bun bang Fai celebration in the past were in Yasothorn, Roi Et, Kalasin, Srisaket, Mahasarakham, and Udon Thani.Yasothon's festival
Since March 1, 1972, the separation of Yasothon from Ubon Ratchathani, Yasothon has staged its Rocket Festival in Thailand annually over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the middle of May.The principal theme of any Hae Bangfai is the Phadaeng and Nang Ai legends. Many floats depict the couple and their retinue. Hàe typically end in a wat, where dancers and accompanying musicians may further compete in traditional folk dance. All groups prominently display the names of their major sponsors. Recalling the fertility rite origins of the festival, parade ornaments and floats often have phallic imagery. The festivities also include cross-dressing, both cross-sex and cross-generational, and alcohol. Perhaps the most popular beverage is a neutral grain spirit called Sura, but more generally known as Lao Whiskey in Laos and Lao Khao in Thailand. Sato may also be on offer.
On May 9, 1999, a Lan 120 kg rocket exploded 50 meters above ground, just two seconds after launch, killing four people and wounding 11.
Bang Fai (the rockets)
Bang Fai skyrockets are black-powder bottle rockets. Tiny bottle rockets are so-called because they may be launched from a bottle. In the case of the similar appearing Bang Fai, also spelled Bong Fai, the 'bottle' is a bong, and a section of bamboo culm is used as a container.Related to the Chinese Fire Arrow, Bang Fai are made from bamboo bongs. Most contemporary ones, however, are enclosed in PVC piping, making them less dangerous by standardizing their sizes and black-powder charges. Baking or boiling a bong kills insect eggs that otherwise hatch in dead bamboo and eat it. Vines tie long bamboo tails to launching racks. The time it takes for the exhaust to burn through the vines allows a motor to build up to full thrust; then the tails impart in-flight stability. Ignition comes from a burning fuse or electric match.
Bang Fai come in various sizes, competing in several categories. Small ones are called Bang Fai Noi. Larger categories are designated by the counting words for 10,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000: Meun, Saen, and the largest Bang Fai, the Lan. Bang Fai Lan are nine metres long and charged with 120 kg of black powder. These may reach altitudes reckoned in kilometres, and travel dozens of kilometres downrange. Competing rockets are scored for the apparent height, distance, and beauty of the vapour trail. A few include skyrocket pyrotechnics. A few also include parachutes for tail assemblies.