Sending Fire and Worries into the Sky

Tonight all of the TVC projects got off work a few hours early so that they could opt to go to Nam Kem, a town about 30 minutes drive north of Khao Lak, for a celebration put on by some Swedish people. I believe these people lost friends and/or family in the tsunami, but this party was to celebrate new life and to let go of troubles from the past. They had a ton of freebies, which included food from nearby hotels and foot, back, and hand massages. It was incredible to sit back and get a food massage with Tiger Balm lotion after playing soccer the day before. A rainbow appeared and I enjoyed paradise with several other volunteers who were partaking of the free foot massage as well.

The celebration had tents with vendors and was similar to a typical festival for the most part, with music, dancing, singing, modern dance performance, and a beautiful sunset. I went into a room and found people making “ratongs” (sounds something like that) to send floating out into the ocean later on in the night. We used parts of banana trees to cover a cylindrical base with green leaf designs and flowers. Everyone had 3 sticks of incense and a candle sticking out of the base as well.

Making my "ratong"

These “ratongs” are symbolic of past troubles, fears, worries, etc. in life. I believe the actual date for this festival is in about a week, so I’m not sure exactly why the celebration and ritual took place last night. In any case, it was an incredibly unique tradition, unlike anything I have ever witnessed or participated in before. It’s difficult to describe how we looked and how people felt walking down the street to the river together with our candles and incense lit, letting our “ratongs” go in the river, and hopefully releasing all of our burdens along with the “ratongs”.

Letting my "ratong" go in the river

As we were walking back from the river to the main festival area, I noticed some fiery UFO looking things soaring slowly through the sky. Turns out they were lighting a small version of a hot air balloon into the sky. It was fun to try this, and to watch others try to release their miniature hot air balloons. Some fell to the ground and caught fire, others went up a little and then came back down and threatened to fall on people’s heads, a few became tangled in the palm trees above, and several floated up into the night sky, creating a beautiful image to observe. It was an unimaginable end to a night for beginning anew.

Letting homeade hot air balloons into the sky