5 Biggest Festivals in Thailand

Learn 5 biggest festivals in Thailand

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Select your level

Or sign up using Facebook

By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.

Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

สวัสดีค่ะ” (Sawasdee ka)

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Thai top words. I am Jay and today, we will be doing 5 Biggest Festivals in Thailand.

Okay. Let’s get started. Okay. The first one.

1. ประเพณีสงกรานต์ (bprà-phee-nii sŏng-graan) "Songkarn Festival"

ฉันอยากไปร่วมประเพณีสงกรานต์ (chăn yàak bpai rûuam bprà-phee-nii sŏng-graan) "I want to join the Songkarn Festival."

Songkarn festival is actually one of the most popular festivals for Thai people and also for foreigners because it’s a very fun festival. I think it is on 13th to 15th of April every year. So it lasts for three days every year and on those days, you can just splash water at one another or spray water at one another because another name of Songkarn festival is Water Splashing festival. So it’s very fun especially if you are young and you love to experience something new.

2. ประเพณีลอยกระทง (bprà-phee-nii laauy-grà-thong) "Loy Krathong Festival"

ฉันจะไปร่วมประเพณีลอยกระทงกับแฟน (chăn jà bpai rûuam bprà-phee-nii laauy-grà-thong gàp faaen) "I will join the Loy Krathong Festival with my boyfriend/girlfriend."

Loy Krathong festival is actually in either November or December towards the end of the year on the full moon and on that day, people will bring their own Krathong. Krathong is actually a floating basket that’s made of banana leaves and candle and then they will float it on a river. So on that night, it is very beautiful because the whole river is full of these floating basket and because there are candles in it, so the river will be full of lit candle floating baskets. So it’s very beautiful. This festival is actually to give respect back to the river because Thai people in the past believed that river is the mother of the heart of all living things. So we live because we have water and water is from the river.

3. ประเพณีบุญบั้งไฟ (bprà-phee-nii bun-bâng-fai) "Rocket Festival"

ประเพณีบุญบั้งเป็นประเพณีหนึ่งของภาคอีสานของไทย (bprà-phee-nii bun-bâng-fai bpen bprà-phee-nii nùeng khǎawng phâak ii-sǎan) "Rocket Festival is a festival in eastern Thailand."

Actually, the word Rocket in Thai is จรวด (jà-rùuat) However, for (bâng-fai) literally means black powder bottle rocket. So it’s a small rocket and used black powder to fire it into the air.

4. เทศกาลโต๊ะจีนลิง (thêet-sà-gaan dtó jiin ling) "Monkey Festival"

เทศกาลโต๊ะจีนลิงจัดขึ้นที่จังหวัดลพบุรี (thêet-sà-gaan dtó jiin ling jàt khûen thîi jang-wàt lóp-bù-rii) "Monkey Festival is held in the Lopburi province."

Lopburi is actually a province that is famous for monkeys. There are monkeys everywhere, not everywhere but I mean some places like temples or mountains, there are a lot of monkeys. And when I say a lot, it’s really, really, really a lot and they are – I don’t want to say friendly but they are used to humans. So, if you are going to Lopburi province, be careful because these monkeys get used to human and sometimes they steal things from your hands.

5. ประเพณีลอยโคม (bprà-phee-nii laauy khoom) "Lantern Floating Festival"

ประเพณีลอยโคมมีความสวยงามมาก (bprà-phee-nii laauy khoom mii khwaam sŭuai ngaam mâak) "Lantern Floating Festival is very beautiful."

And it well is. If you look up on the internet, you see that during this festival, there will be a lot of floating lantern. These are actually lanterns that are made of like paper and in the middle, there’s a candle which kind of make it float into the sky. And when there are lot and lot of that in the sky, it’s very beautiful especially at night.

However, many people in Thailand want to end this festival because it’s quite dangerous. If you think of it, if you float a floating lantern and there is a candle inside, if that lantern kind of falls down or drops into someone’s house, it can cause a big fire which is quite dangerous. There are many fire cases that is caused by these floating lanterns. So, it’s beautiful but it’s also very dangerous.

Okay. That’s the end of today’s lesson. Thank you for watching as always. For me, my favorite festival is Songkarn Festival because personally, I think it’s the most fun festival in Thailand. How about you guys? Let us know in the comments below what is your favorite festival so far.