ฺฺฺBANGFIRE ROCKETS FESTIVAL

Rocket Festival or "Boon Bang Fai" in Thai is
usually held in the second week of May of each year, at the beginning
of the rainy season. The farmers are ready to cultivate their paddy
fields. The festival is popularly celebrated in the northeastern
provinces of Yasothorn and Ubon Ratchathani. The celebration is an
entreaty to the rain god for plentiful rains during the coming rice
planting season.

The festival itself owes its beginning to alegend that a rain god named
Vassakan was known for his fascination ofbeing worshipped with fire.
To receive plentiful rains for rice cultivation, the farmers send the
home-made rockets to the heaven wherethe god resided. The festival has
been carried out till these days.

Under the guidance of Buddhist monks, it
takes the villagers weeks to make the rockets, launching platforms and
other decorations. An average rocket is some nine metres in length and
carries 20-25 kilogrammes of gunpowder

In the afternoon of the festival day,
rockets are carried in the procession to the launching site. Villagers
dressed in colourful traditional costumes attract the eyes of the
onlookers, who line up along the procession route.

Before ignition of the rockets, there will be more singing
and dancing to celebrate the festival. The climax of the festival is
the ignition
time. One by one the rockets are fired from the launching platforms.
Each liftoff s greeted by cheers and noisy music. The rocket that
reaches the greatest height is the winner and the owner of this rocket
will dance and urge for rewards on their way home while the owners of
the rockets, that exploded or failed to fly, will be thrown into the
mud. The celebration is a communual affair of the villagers who come to
share joy and happiness together before heading to the paddy fields
where hard work is waiting for them.