Yi Peng festival
Yi Peng, also spelled Yee Peng, is a traditional Lan Na festival celebrated in Northern Thailand. It is a festival of lights, deeply rooted in Theravada Buddhism, and is celebrated for three days, culminating on the full moon of the second month of the Lanna lunar calendar, which typically falls in November.
The festival is most closely associated with the city of Chiang Mai, where its best-known feature is the mass release of thousands of khom loi, which are believed to relieve misfortune and send wishes to the heavens. While Yi Peng is a distinct Lanna tradition, it is celebrated concurrently with the national Thai festival of Loy Krathong.
Etymology and origin
Yi means 'two' and peng means a 'full moon day'. Yi Peng refers to the full moon day in the second month according to the Lanna lunar calendar.Yi Peng originated in the ancient Lan Na Kingdom and is thought to have roots in the pre-Buddhist Haripuñjaya Kingdom.
According to certain accounts, the festival's origins are sometimes associated with ancient animist and Brahmanic traditions of India, although it is primarily observed today as a Buddhist custom. The festival is meant as a time to obtain Buddhist merit. One legend tells of a flock of birds that paid homage to the Buddha by circling around him while carrying lit torches in their beaks and claws. Moved by their devotion, the Buddha proclaimed that their virtuous act would earn them rebirth endowed with beauty and good fortune. In northern Thailand, offering light to the Buddha during Yi Peng is therefore regarded as a meritorious act believed to bring purity and popularity in future lives.
Traditions
The festival is meant as a time to make merit. Swarms of sky lanterns, literally: 'floating lanterns', are launched into the air. Khom loi are made from a thin fabric, such as rice paper, stretched over a bamboo or wire frame, to which a candle or fuel cell is attached. When the fuel cell is ignited, the heated air trapped inside the lantern creates enough lift for the khom loi to rise into the sky. During the festival, some people also decorate their houses, gardens, and temples with khom fai, intricately shaped paper lanterns that take on different forms. Khom thue are lanterns that are carried around hanging from a stick, khom khwaen are the hanging lanterns, and khom pariwat are placed at temples and revolve due to the heat of the candle inside.The most elaborate Yi Peng celebrations can be seen in Chiang Mai, the ancient capital of the former Lanna kingdom, where now both Loy Krathong and Yi Peng are celebrated at the same time, resulting in lights floating on the waters, lights hanging from trees/buildings or standing on walls, and lights floating in the sky. The tradition of Yi Peng was also adopted by certain parts of Laos during the 16th century.
The release of the khom loi is considered the most significant part of the Yi Peng Festival. The light of the lantern is offered to the heavenly stupa in Trāyastriṃśa called Phra That Kaew Chulamanee, which is believed to enshrine a relic of the Buddha's hair. The release of a lantern is believed to free one of misfortune, bad luck, and the troubles of the past year. As the lanterns rise, people make wishes for good fortune in the year ahead and offer respect to their ancestors.
In the past, people believed that if a fire kite or a sky lantern landed on someone's house, the household would suffer misfortune or eventually be abandoned. It was thought that the lantern carried away the troubles of the person who released it, transferring that bad luck to wherever it fell. This belief is no longer commonly held today.
Relationship with Loy Krathong
Although Yi Peng and Loy Krathong are distinct festivals, the alignment of the Lanna and Thai lunar calendars means they are celebrated at the same time in northern Thailand. Yi Peng is a traditional Lanna festival centered on sky lanterns, with offerings of light directed upward toward the heavens and the Buddha's celestial stupa. In contrast, Loy Krathong is a national Thai festival involving the floating of small, decorated rafts on rivers and waterways. Its focus is directed downward to the water, where participants pay respect to the water goddess Phra Mae Khongkha and apologize for polluting the rivers.In modern-day Chiang Mai, the two festivals have merged into a single, multi-day celebration. Both locals and visitors take part by releasing khom loi into the night sky and floating krathong on the Ping River.
Celebrations
The Yi Peng festival is a three-day tradition that begins on the 13th day of the waxing moon, known locally as Wan Da. The first day is dedicated to shopping and preparing for the days of merit-making. The main religious activities take place on the 14th day of the waxing moon, the eve of the full moon. Monks and devotees gather at temples for religious observances, including chanting, meditation, and sermons. On this day, people also make large community krathongs at the temples, filling them with food to be given as alms to the poor. In the evening, many local communities hold smaller traditional ceremonies to release khom loi. The celebration culminates on the 15th day, the full moon, when the large krathongs from the temples, along with smaller personal ones, are taken to the river and floated.Among the customs observed by the Lanna people during Yi Peng are lighting phang pratheep and various kinds of lanterns as offerings to the Five Buddhas, flying kites, and lighting bok fai at temples. These acts are performed in veneration of the five Buddhas of the present fortunate aeon : Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, Kassapa, Siddhartha Gautama, and Maitreya. During the ritual, worshippers also recite traditional verses and make personal wishes for prosperity and protection, chanting, "May I be as bright as fire, may I be as clear as water. May all misfortunes, all dangers, all evils, and all calamities be destroyed.".
During the Yi Peng festival, temples such as Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phan Tao are adorned with thousands of colorful khom fai and phang pratheep. The hanging lanterns traditionally appear in five colors: blue, red, yellow, white, and orange, representing the Chapphannarangsi. According to legend, lanterns in these five colors were believed to protect an area from spirits and demons. When the spirits saw the lights, they thought the Buddha was present and fled in fear. Because of this belief, early hanging lanterns were made only in these five sacred colors. In later times, as the custom developed, lanterns began to be produced in a wider range of colors, which today serve mainly as festive decorations and as offerings in worship of the Buddha.
The festival is held not only in Chiang Mai but also in other northern provinces, including Lamphun, Lampang, and Chiang Rai. The Chiang Mai Municipality organizes a grand parade featuring illuminated floats, traditional Lanna music and dance performances, and depictions of Buddhist stories. In modern times, Yi Peng has become a major cultural and tourist event, attracting thousands of international visitors each year. Large-scale lantern release events are held at various locations, including Doi Saket, and Mae On district.
''Tang Tham Luang''
People also visit monasteries to make merit, attend the recitation of the Tang Tham Luang or Thet Mahachat, which was the heart of the Yi Peng festival in the past. The sermon was divided into several days: on the first day, monks preached the Tham Wat sermons; on the second day, the Katha Phan. Before beginning the Maha Chat Sermon, various other sermons would be delivered. On the final day, the preaching included the Malai Ton, Malai Plai, and Anisong Maha Chat scriptures.At dawn the next morning, the recitation of the Maha Chat would begin with the Thotsaphon Khandha and continue through all thirteen chapters of the Vessantara Jātaka, usually finishing in the evening around seven o’clock. Afterwards, there would be additional recitations such as the Buddhabhiseka Pathamasambodhi sermon, the Chet Tamnan Yot, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, and the Buddhabhiseka blessing chant. Today, the entire Maha Chat sermon is often completed within a single day.
Before organizing the Tang Tham Luang, both monks and laypeople worked together extensively, often beginning preparations at least a month in advance, as there were many tasks to complete. One of the most important duties was called tok tham, the act of inviting monks with eloquent voices to deliver sermons. Other preparations included decorating the venue, constructing royal-style fences and sum pratu pa, and adorning the archways with coconut fronds, parasols, flags, elephant and floral ornaments. Banana trees, sugarcane, galangal, and kuk plants were placed around the entrance to create the appearance of a gate leading into the forest. It is believed that this forest gate was inspired by the Vessantara Jataka, in which Prince Vessantara, after being exiled from the city together with his wife and children, entered the Himavanta forest to live as hermits and cultivate perfections. Upon reaching the forest gate, guarded by the hunter Jetabut, he was shown the path to the hermitage within the labyrinth. Some temples recreated this scene by building a mock labyrinth within the temple grounds. At its center stood a shrine enshrining a Buddha image, and visitors who became “lost” would wander until they reached the center to pay homage. This experience brought joy and spiritual engagement to those who came to make merit.
The vihara was the preferred location for the Tang Tham Luang preaching. Inside, the hall would be decorated with offerings representing the Vessantara Jataka, including lotus flowers, dok phan, triangular floral ornaments, and kradat tong shaped like elephants, horses, oxen, buffaloes, male and female servants, jewels, rings, silver, and gold, each crafted in sets of one hundred. Hanging lanterns known as khom phat depicted scenes from the Vessantara Jataka. These lanterns were suspended from a frame and attached to pulleys, allowing them to be raised and lowered for lighting; hence they were called khom lo, with lo referring to the pulley mechanism used for hoisting the lights.