Malaysian Festivals

The Loi Krathong festival marked the end of the rainy season and the main rice harvest. It is based on a Hindu tradition of thanking the water god for the waters. Several Buddhists temples in Malaysia are organizing the Loi Krathong Festival in Malaysia.



Loi means to float and Krathong is a leaf cup normally made of banana leaf, which is lotus-shaped. Usually the Krathong has a small coin in it, besides a candle and incense sticks. Nowadays most people buy a colourful krathong from a vendor.



Krathong can we own-make or buy from one of the vendors who capitalize on the festival. Fill your krathong with a candle, flowers, incense, and a coin. Sometimes, locals add a snip of their hair or fingernails to the krathong as a part of their bodies goes out to the goddess.



During October and November all rivers and canals in the lowlands are flooded and in some places overflow their banks. The rainy season has ended and after the strenuous labour of ploughing and planting rice for the previous three months from dawn to dusk the heavy work is now over for the country folk.

The night of the full moon of the twelfth lunar month (usually in mid-November) is the time of Loi Krathong.



In the evening, when the full moon begins to rise, people carry their Krathongs to the banks of waterways. After the candle and incense sticks are lighted, the Krathong is pushed gently out onto the surface of the placid water. A few folk will raise their hands in worship. They watch the Krathong as it floats sluggishly along until it is out of sight.



Mostly the Loi Kratong Festival is organised by a Siamese Association. It's celebrated in Perlis, Kedah and Penang and Kelantan.