Easy Exercises

Lighting up the night

It�s time to mark Loy Krathong, the time of year when Thais across the country release lotus-shaped floats into the country�s rivers and canals. Although this tradition is widespread throughout the country, some people celebrate Loy Krathong differently. Read the following story from the �Bangkok Post� to find out how the Lanna people in the North celebrate this festival. Then, work with a friend to answer the following discussion and reading comprehension questions.

Photographs courtesy of Bangkok Post/AFP

No other place in Thailand puts on a grander show of lights during Loy Krathong than in Chiang Mai and the other northern provinces. The light show happens during the Yi Peng Festival when lanterns are released into the night sky.

Yi Peng in Lanna dialect means full moon of the second lunar month (according the Lanna calendar). For all of us who go by the regular calendar, this happens in November. The celebrations begin on the 13th day of the waxing moon when people go shopping and prepare food to offer monks. The next day, Buddhist rites are performed when people offer alms to monks and also donate food to the poor.

SEE THE LIGHT

Traditionally, the Lanna people of northern Thailand decorate temples, streets and their homes with banana trunks, sugar cane and coconut leaves. They light up various types of lanterns to illuminate temples and to honour Lord Buddha. The lanterns adorning temples are usually made from bamboo. There are also star-shaped lanterns that are hung before Buddha statues and cone-shaped paper lanterns that cast shadows of different colours.

The highlight of Yi Peng is the launching of lanterns attached to white silk balloons. After dark, Lanna people launch hundreds of these lanterns into the sky, a sight that is truly spectacular.

Lanna people believe the lanterns will go all the way to the Sacred Pagoda in heaven. The higher a lantern goes, the greater the fortune it will bring. Some people also believe that releasing the lantern is a way to rid themselves of bad omen, while some believe that light from the lanterns represents wisdom. If they give a lantern to a monk it will help increase their wisdom.

Those who want to see the lights should not miss the Yi Peng Festival in Chiang Mai from November 19 to 27.

Discussion

 Releasing lanterns and watching them drift into the night sky during Yi Peng can be an amazing thing, but it can also be a dangerous one. What are some of the hazards of this activity?

Exercises

Work with a friend to answer the following reading comprehension questions.

1.         What materials are used to decorate temples, streets and homes?

2.         Why do people want their lanterns to go higher into the sky?

3.         What does Yi Peng mean?

4.         Where will the Yi Peng festival be held?

Vocabulary

mark (v): to celebrate or officially remember an event that you consider to be important
grander (adj): impressive and large or important
dialect (n): the form of a language that is spoken in one area that may be different from other forms of the same language
wax (v): (of the moon) to seem to get gradually bigger until its full form is visible
illuminate (v): to shine light on something
adorn (v): to make something or somebody look more attractive by decorating it or them with something
spectacular (adj): very impressive
sacred (adj): connected with God or a god; considered to be holy
pagoda (n): a temple
omen (n): a sign of what is going to happen in the future
wisdom (n): the ability to make sensible decisions and give good advice because of the experience and knowledge that you have
hazard (n): a thing that can be dangerous or cause damage

Idiom

see the light: to finally understand or accept something, especially something obvious