My most meaningful family traditions
Loy..Loy..Kratong…Loy..Loy..Kratong…A song all Thais from the toddlers to grannies can all hum along well. Yes, it is Loy Kratong again, a day of joyful festival!
Our national Loi Kratong (floating banana leaf vessel) tradition will fall on November 24th this year. It is a ceremony observed by most Thai to pay homage to the mother river and thank the water supply throughout the year.
This is also a traditional time for the four (parents and the twin boys) of us in the family to get busy making floating vessels for the festival. It is indeed a fun time. Like each and every year, since the boys were at the age of four and started to join in the first Loi Kratong festival, we will celebrate our fun tradition day.
John and James are 14 years old now. They are charged to get all the necessary materials to make the Kratong vessels this year. When the big day comes on Saturday, we will all sit in the front lawn and fold up the banana leaves with a small candle stick in the middle called Kratong. We will make four up this year as usual.
Sylvia, my wife, will cook some simple traditional family meal of Chinese fried rice and steamed fish. We will enjoy the dinner together before we line up to go to the river to float out our home made Kratongs.
As usually, this is the time I will witness to my boys the greatness of God – the creator of the whole universe and the river too. We will say a prayer to thank Him for what He has done for us in the past year and ask for His blessing again for the year to come, in Jesus name, Amen. We will then let our Kratongs float out the river until we can no longer see them. This will be time for us to hit back home.
We know we will not have to rush home this year for the day falls on Saturday. We will have more time to loiter around the river side to enjoy the lights and sound and the fireworks. We do look forward to another of our most unique and meaningful family tradition day on the coming November 24th, 2007.