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The That Phanom festival in Nakhon Phanom is a week long tribute to one of the country's most important Buddhist monuments.
The Flower
Festival in Chiang Mai includes parades and decorated rafts on the
Mae Ping river. Beautiful.
Magha Puja is a Buddhist occation observed in all temples
Phra Nakhon Khiri diamond festival is a week long event celebrating
Petchaburi's history and architecture.
The Chinese New Year is celebrated in late February or early April.
The Phanom
Rung festival is in honour of a restored temple complex in Buriram
The Bangkok International Jewelry trade fair - check www.2bangkok.com
if you are after precious stones.
The Chakri Day is April 6th. in memory of Rama 1, the founder of the current dyansty.
The
Songkran festival marks the Thai new year in the middle of
April. Water is politely sprinkled on munks and elders, and on Buddha statues.
For the rest it is a veritable water-war. Water is splashed on everyone by
everyone, you WILL get wet. Make sure to protect wallets, cameras and other
sensitive ithems against water.
It is great fun, the biggest party in Thailand. The water splashing is supposed
to end when the sun goes down. For some reason, Songkran is celebrated a week
or so later than everywhere else in Pattaya. So if you want, you can have
a double dose.
Coronation
day is celebrated on May 5th.
Visakha Puja marks the birth of the Lord Buddha witb activities
in the temples.
The Phi
Ta Khon festival in Loei is i memory of a Buddhist legend. Special
costumes, masks and decorations color the event.
The Rocket Festival in Yasothon sees homemade rockets compete.
Some are quite large, and some does not work as advertised. Great fun for
those who escape injury.
The Royal Ploughing Festival marks the start of the rice
season. His Majesty the King participates in a rice planting ceremony.
Asalha
Puja marks the first sermon of Buddha.
At the Candle festival in Ubon Ratchathani large handcarved
candles are paraded on floats through the streets.
Khao Phansa marks the start of the Buddhst lent, a time for ordination of new monks.
The Queen's
Birthday, 12. August is a public holiday
September
The Narathiwat
Fair entertains a whole week with boat races, traditional song and
dance, and more.
Chinese Buddhist vegetarian festival over nine days in Trang
and Phuket.
Kathin marks the end of the Buddhist lent.
Loi Kratong
is celebrated nationwide with small floats set on the rivers. In Chiang Mai
the night sky is quite a sight with thousands of hot-air baloons released.
The Elephant Show in Surin is the largest elephant show in
Thailand.
River Khwae Week. A memorial to the River Khwae Bridge and the prisoners of war who slaved for the Japanese to build it.
His Majesty the King's Birthday is on Desember 5., a public holiday.
There are more festivals and other special events than listed here, and my descriptions are only brief. Your guidebook should have more in-depth information.
Read the English language newspapers "The Nation" and "Bangkok Post", as well as the Untaimed and Metro magazines to get info on events such as exibitions, concerts and cultural activities - as well as on general entertainment.
Siam Society in Bangkok is a good source for information. Universities like Chulalongkorn in Bangkok arranges seminars and talks on many subjects for those with an interest in Thai culture and history.
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