MAKRA PUJA
Full Moon Day, February
National Holiday

This community celebration began when 1250 disciples gathered to hear the Buddha teach. Today, merry- making such as bringing food to monks and feeding captive birds and fishes is interspersed with celebrations throughout the kingdom. Each person reverently carries flowers and glowing candles to pay homage to the Buddha, his teachings, and his disciples.

FLOWER FESTIVAL
Every Friday, Saturday, & Sunday in February

In the city of Chiang, north of Bangkok, this festival is an annual event that features floral displays, floral floats, and beauty contests. It is during February that the province’s temperate and tropical flowers are in full bloom.

SONGKRAN FESTIVAL
April 13-15
National holiday

    Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year, when the sun moves into Aries, and is celebrated with special excitement in Chiang Mai where because it occurs during a time of relative leisure, it becomes a 3-5 day carousel of pilgrimages, beauty parades, dancing and good-natured, uninhibited water throwing.  The word "Songkran" derives from "Sanskrit" which means "beginning of the solar year." 
    Thais visit temples to offer food to the Buddhist monks and bathe the Buddhist statuary.  Young people engage in the rite of pouring scented water into the hands of their elders out of respect and, in turn, receive blessings from the elders.   An old practice of collecting small fish from dried out pools to keep and later release into the wild has evolved into releasing small fish throughout the river and canal system.
    Because of the extreme tropical heat during this time, water-throwing has become a seasonal activity.  An old myth is also thought to have given rise to this practice.  It was thought that the "naga," or sea serpents, spouted sea water to begin the seasonal rains that guaranteed the following year's crops.

ROYAL IOLOUGHING CEREMONY
Early May

This Bangkok ceremony marks the official beginning of the annual planting and harvesting cycle. His Majesty the King presides over the elaborate Brahman ritual meant to provide predictions of the annual rice crop.

ROCKET FESTIVAL
Second week of May

Prior to the annual monsoons, Northeast villagers construct gigantic rockets which they fire into the sky to ensure plentiful rain during the forthcoming rice season. The rocket festival is traditionally a period for letting off steam before arduous field work begins in earnest. It features beauty parades, folk dances, ribald and high-spirited revelry before the rockets are ceremoniously launched.

VISAKHA PUJA
Full Moon Day
National Holiday

Visakha Puja is the holiest of all Buddhist holy days because it marks the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. Merry-making and ceremonies are identical to Makra Puja.

These annual fairs feature luxurious provincial fruits and is celebrated countrywide with cultural displays and exhibitions of folk art.

QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY
August 12
  National Holiday

Nationwide celebrations find particular focus in Bangkok where government buildings are decorated and illuminated at night with colored lights.

OK PHANSA & THOT KATHIN
October

Ok Phansa celebrates the end of the monsoon season. The rains’ retreat introduces the Kathin period when, throughout Thailand, the Buddhist laity present monks with new robes and other items deemed necessary for the monkhood's upkeep during the forthcoming monastic year.

VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL
October

Pbuket Islanders of Chinese ancestry commit themselves to a vegetarian diet for nine days. The festival’s first day features a parade of white-clothed devotees and several aesthetic displays.

BOAT RACES
October

Since the Kathin period marks the official end of the rainy season, it is a time of celebration during which county fairs are held. Many of the fairs feature regattas. The city of Nan, north of Bangkok, holds famous boat races as does Surat Thani, Phichit, Nakhon Phanom, and Pathumthani.

LOI KRATHONG
Full moon night
November

This is Thailand’s loveliest festival when, under the full moon, Thai's float away onto rivers and waterways. Krathougs -- small, lotus-shaped banana leaf boats -- contain a lighted candle, glowing incense, a flower, and a small coin to honor the water spirits. The traditional meaning for the festival is to wash away the previous year’s sins.

ELEPHANT ROUND-UP
Third weekend of November
Surin, Northeast Thailand

More than 200 elephants participate in this popular 40-year old event in Surin, about 40 miles from the Cambodian border.  Between folk dances and traditional cultural performances, these versatile behemoths star in displays of time-honored wild elephant hunts, demonstrations of intelligence, strength, gentility and obedience as well as the spectacular reenactment of a medieval war elephant parade.   When the show ends, visitors can ride the elephants back to their hotels or cars.  

RIVER KWAI BRIDGE WEEK
Late November or Early December
Kanchanaburi, Western Thailand

This celebration features a thrilling luminary show at the world famous bridge. Archaeological and historical exhibitions, sparkling folk culture performances, and rides on trains which are hauled by World War II vintage steam locomotives number among other attractions.