Stories tagged with festivals
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Dance and music comes to Bangkok
The 10th International Festival of Dance and Music will not be deterred by the ongoing political strife in Thailand. One of Bangkok’s most popular and impressive events will go on as scheduled from 15 September to 13 October as the Dusit Thani Hotel hosts more than 1,200 artists from 11 different countries who have come to the capital to showcase their diverse talents.
Throughout the month-long festival of the arts, internationally-renowned troupes such as the Paul Taylor Dance Company from New York, the Russian Symphony Orchestra, National Theatre of Korea, and Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras from Spain will entertain the crowds in Bangkok. Local Thai artists will also be in the mix, making this a truly global event.
J.S. Uberoi, Chairman of International Cultural Promotions Ltd who organises the festival, said “this festival has in the decade of its existence put Bangkok on the cultural map of the world as a significant player and is rated as one of Asia's leading cultural showcases bringing the best from around the globe to Thailand for a month-long cultural extravaganza.”
He added that “companies [from all over the world] are all determined to perform in Thailand for the festival underlining their belief that in Thailand business is as usual despite the political turmoil.”
Posted by: Andrew on 19 Sep 2008, 12:11 -
Pattaya Walking Street to feature artists
This fall the famous Walking Street of South Pattaya will host a 3-day arts festival showcasing talented craftsman, artisans, musicians and street performers from around the country and abroad. Dozens of artists and performers from 24 provinces across Thailand are preparing their best work for the festival, which is sure to become a popular fixture in the future.
The special event is being organised by the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture of the Ministry of Culture, along with the Chonburi Cultural Office. Dr. Wimonlak Chuchart, director of the National Art Gallery, said in a press conference that “art buyers will be able to meet the artists who made the work. There will be murals, sculptures, prints, photographs, and handicrafts on show.”
There is also some real global talent slated to perform at the Walking Street. The Sema Puppet Group, who recently won the award for best puppet creators at Prague’s famous International Puppet Festival this year, will be performing. Mimes, musicians and buskers will also be on hand to give Pattaya a taste of the global street fair scene. This makes a great complement to the local Thai art that will be highlighted, and add another wonderful event to Pattaya’s annual schedule.
More information available at Pattaya Mail
Posted by: Andrew on 17 Sep 2008, 13:56 -
Pattaya plans its Songkran celebrations
The Songkran Festival, ringing in the Thai New Year, is celebrated all over the country, but some cities emphasize different dates, with Pattaya kicking into high gear for their Songkran from April 18th to the 20th. The water flinging festival reaches its peak of wild partying in Pattaya, with people coming from around the world to party like Caligula with a super-soaker primed for attack.
Pattaya’s City Hall has announced its list of official Songkran activities that will take place over the three-day period. The first event on the list will show visitors the roots of the festival, where offerings will be given to 99 monks and water sprinkled over a statue of the Buddha in Lanpho Naklua Public Park.
For a family fun-fair approach, April 19th will see the park play host to many games and events like climbing of greased poles, sea boxing and a martial arts show. Throughout the three day festival, expect to get soaking wet, as water is flung form buckets, balloons and pistols all day long.
Posted by: DaveB on 15 Apr 2008, 19:00 -
Mayor of Chaing Mai promises a safe Songkran
Songkran is a long loved and well established festival in Thailand. The water festival that takes its roots from the Thai New Year festival celebrated by drizzling some water over a Buddha image has become one of the country’s favourite holidays, where it’s not Buddha being sprinkled, but the entire populous being drenched.
One of the festival’s most attractive celebratory cities in Chiang Mai, with the old city’s moat providing easy access to water to splash at whoever may be passing by. The festival has in the past been associated with some lurid and debauched behaviour, but this year the Mayor of Chiang Mai, Duentemduang na Chiengmai says that she has made plans that will support a polite and family friendly Songkran festival. The mayor said that there will be 20 ‘polite zones’ where revelers who wish to celebrate the festival in the traditional way instead of donning super-soakers will be free to do so, protected by volunteers that will secure the perimeter.
Posted by: DaveB on 11 Apr 2008, 10:52 -
Thaksin coming to Chiang Mai?
Deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is back in Thailand. After being overthrown by the military in September 2006’s bloodless coup while he was in New York, Thaksin was on the move in other countries to avoid being brought to justice in his homeland. In his absence, the country has moved on, drafted a new constitution and elected a new Prime Minister.
Thaksin is due in Thai courts to answer to a variety of charges against him, but has arrived in the country ten days ahead of schedule to carry on with his other business endeavours, such as promoting his football team, Manchester City, in which he has a significant stake. "The former PM coming back earlier than scheduled was not involved with his defence in court to fight land deal charges," reported the former PM’s spokesman.
Aside from appearing in court to answer to possible fraud in a land buying deal while he was in office, Thaksin aims to promote investment in Thailand to two of his high-rolling acquaintances, Thaksin is then scheduled to visit his former stomping ground in northern Thailand, stopping in Chiang Mai to take in the Songkran festival there.
Posted by: DaveB on 04 Apr 2008, 17:15 -
Music group sends modesty message for Songkran
One of Thailand’s most outrageous festivals is coming up, and everyone is getting exited and ready for the few days of fun that is the Songkran Festival, the Thai New Year. Tourists that have the good fortune to experience this festival during their trip to Thailand have probably never seen anything like it, where for three solid days, everyone is being soaked by buckets of water, water balloons and the many super-soaker water guns waiting in doorways to soak any unsuspecting passers-by.
With all this water being sprayed, clothing can get, ahem, a little clingy, and according to an article in the Bangkok Post, the Thai Culture Ministry is using a popular musical group to help them promote a campaign aimed at modesty during the festival. The Girly Berry band will encourage their fellow teenagers to dress modestly in dark clothing during the festival.
In Chiang Mai, the festival makes its rounds around the city’s ancient moat, where lines of people soak each other, and the culture ministry hopes that encouraging girls not to wear revealing clothing will cut down on the aggression that has become a problem during Songkran.
Posted by: DaveB on 03 Apr 2008, 17:13 -
Yee Peng Festival set to light up Chiang Mai
Each year thousands flock to Chiang Mai to enjoy a unique Loi Kratong festival. This popular Thai celebration, in which sins of the past year are released, is especially popular in the North and takes on it’s own character, known locally as the Yee Peng Festival.
First time visitors will be enchanted by the tradition of floating ‘kratongs’, with their candles and pretty flower arrangements, down waterways and rivers, and the night sky is dotted with hundreds of glowing ‘Khoms’. These are saa paper balloons with small burning baskets beneath and make a pretty sight when left off en-masse.
By releasing these, troubles and sins of the past year are said to be released, not surprisingly there are thousands dispensed of, and the clean up the following day can be a problem. The festival is also accompanied by fireworks and firecrackers which can be engaging or annoying depending which way you view them.
The River banks of the Ping river are the best places to witness the floating (or loi) of the kratongs which are sold by vendors all over the busy areas, such as near Wororat Market. Khoms (balloons) are also widely available and are released at parties, restaurants, bars and other venues across the city over several days of the festival. However, Saturday 24th is the official day and will include parties at entertainment venues and near water courses (canals included) across the city. It’s a highlight of the events calendar in Chiang Mai and worth participating in if you are in Chiang Mai.
Posted by: Andrew on 20 Nov 2007, 10:42 -
Another year, another Buddhist lent finishes
This past week marked the end of the Buddhist period of Lent, and visitors to Thailand with the good fortune to stumble across some of the festivities and ceremonies will no doubt have some great photos to show the folks back home. But what will you be able to tell them about the holiday?
The days Thais call Tak Bat Tay-Wo and Auk Pansa mark the end of the Buddhist lent. On these days certain prominent temples are crowded with devotees presenting gifts of food to the monks, hoping the alms will bring they and their families luck for the year between now and the next Auk Pansa.
For the monks, the three-month period that coincides with the rainy season is a time to stay in their home temple on 'retreat'. The last day of lent, Auk Pansa, is marked on the day of the increasing full moon, falling usually in late October (the 15th day of the 11th month in the lunar calendar). The next day is Tay-Wo, where the food is given to the monks. This period is represented mythologically in Thailand as the three months Buddha went to heaven to pontificate to his mother.
Posted by: DaveB on 01 Nov 2007, 14:05 -
The Phuket Carnival at Patong 2007
The Phuket Carnival at Patong 2007 was started this morning at 07:00. The event will officially kick off this evening and events will continue for three days. This year’s events are particularly special as they mark the twentieth anniversary of the Carnival.
This morning’s ceremony was mostly religious with local residents offering alms to Buddhist monks as a park on Patong Beach. The ceremony is believed to give merit to those who participate and give food to the monks. Many expatriate residents of Phuket also participate and foreign tourists are also welcome.
Following the ceremony, teams of divers competed to collect the largest amount of underwater trash, engaging in friendly rivalry and helping to clean up the area where many tourists go to swim, snorkel and scuba dive. A total of 24 teams participated in the challenge which took place on Patong Beach.
This evening at 18:00, the Minister of Commerce, Krerk-krai Jiraphate, will be present at the official opening ceremonies of the Carnival. Following the ceremony, a fireworks display on the beach is planned in honor of His Majesty the King of Thailand.
The festival this year will include a beach parade as well as many other activities. The parade, along with many of the festivities that make up Carnival, is known for being colorful and riotous. The parade includes local students and marching bands and is held between 18:00 and 19:00 nightly.
During the day, activities will take place in eight zones around the city on the streets between 13:00 and 22:00. In addition, nightly stage performances and concerts will be taking place nightly on two stages. One stage will be in Soi Bangla and include performances by Thai hip hop artists. Another stage will be on the beach featuring more international dance, music and fashion shows.
Over the next three days, visitors to Phuket are advised to park their vehicles somewhere off the beach road and either walk or use public transportation. Organizers will be on the streets handing out free daily guides and maps with information on parking and other services.
Posted by: Jen on 01 Nov 2007, 14:00 -
Vegetarian festival: more than sticking to greens
Phuket is a Thai island popular with those who can afford to holiday or have a second home here. Not exactly backpacker friendly, Phuket prides itself on its luxurious offerings in lodging, sports & leisure and nightlife. David Beckham is rumored to have bought property here, to give you a sense of who we’re talking about.
But for nine days every year, Phuket changes hats so to speak, with the advent of the world famous vegetarian festival. The roots of the festival are deep, with the main goal to purify the mind and body through certain renunciate practices. Nothing fancy, just abstaining from alcohol, meat and sex for the nine day duration. This incredibly unique festival is celebrated not by Thai Buddhists, but Buddhists living in Thailand (or anywhere else for that matter, who can get to Phuket for the festival) that have Chinese ancestry.
That said, most anyone with a strong will can take part in the festival, where to prove their faith, devotees engage in various activities like sticking knives and skewers through their cheeks, walk across hot coals, or carry heavy shrines on their heads that pierce the skin of the back.
How such a simple premise leads to such elaborate and painful affair is a fascinating thing to witness, and even as an outsider the mood is palpable throughout the days of the festival.
Posted by: DaveB on 25 Oct 2007, 14:04 -
First ever Phuket Film Festival
On October 20th, Phuket kicked off its first ever Film Festival. Local celebrities attended the exciting event, highlighting with their high fashion and sparkling glamor just how far the area has changed since the tsunami.
The week long event is privately funded by the SF Cinema city and Jungceylong Shopping Complex in Patong and it’s obvious a lot of money and thought went into the event (almost half a million dollars to be exact).
This year, the festival is meant to celebrate the opening of the SF cinema. "However, we intend to make it an annual event," says SF’s managing director Suwit Thongrompo. "Phuket is a perfect place to have a film festival and we hope to have support from the Tourism Authority of Thailand next year to expand the scope of it. We dare not compare to, say, Pusan, but we do have the intention to make it grow."
Between October 20th and the closing of the festival next Saturday, a total of 40 films will be screened including six Thai movies.
Thai movie stars, including Prince Chatreechalerm Yukol and his actors from the King Naresuan movies, attended the opening gala. At the opening, a Spanish comedy entitled Dance Machine was screened.
"We go for family-oriented movies, we want to make this a people’s festival," programmer Scott Rosenberg, said. "We stay away from heavy art films or horror. After all this is a place that’s still recovering from the bad thing that happened."
Information on screenings, tickets and events still going on this week can be found at the Film Festival’s website.
Posted by: Jen on 23 Oct 2007, 12:48 -
Phuket and its new Film Festival
The film festival circuit is already fairly established, with the grand daddy of the Canes Film Festival leading the way, and Venice and Toronto being the next most credible. Now Phuket is throwing its reel into the ring with the October 20th debut of the first annual Phuket Film Festival.
Screenings and events will take place at SF Cinemas on Patong beach, in the Jungceylon Shopping Center, where over 30 feature films, short films and documentaries will be shown. The opening ceremonies will involve many Thai celebrities from both the big and small screens, as well as some international guests.
The opening movie is from Spain; a comedy called ‘Dance Machine’. There will also be many pre and post-festival parties, the first being the day before the festival opens, with artist peter Donnelly performing on Patong beach to promote the short film he’s featured in called ‘Sand Dancer’.
Aside from promoting films both domestic and international, Phuket authorities are hoping that turning the spotlights on the beautiful island will entice directors to make more use of the island as a shooting location.
Posted by: DaveB on 17 Oct 2007, 13:54 -
Phuket Vegetarian Festival begins
The island of Phuket becomes a sea of white for ten days during the month of October as local inhabitants celebrate the yearly Phuket Vegetarian Festival.
For the ten days of the festival, local shops are full of white clothes and the streets are full of food stalls all selling vegetarian food. Shrines, restaurants and street corners are full of the smell of cooking vegetables.
The white clothes are intended to reflect the purity of people’s mind and body during the period where practitioners abstain from the consumption of meat.
Every year the dates of the festival change, as it is held in the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it will last from October 11th to 19th.
Every morning shrines around the city will perform street processions illustrating their devotion. Most processions begin around 07:00 and occur in Phuket City and in the older parts of town. The first procession is scheduled for October 13th and the final procession is on the 19th.
Religious observers of the sacred rites of the festival are said to gain good fortune. The vegetarian or vegan diet is supposed to cleanse the spirit and gain people merit.
In addition to the devotional processions and sacred rituals which are performed each year in Chinese shrines around the city, there are also aesthetic displays in the shrines as well. Devotees known as “Ma Song? go into a trance and perform acts such as walking barefoot over coals or climbing bladed ladders.
This year’s festival will be one to remember as it occurs in the same year as the 80th birthday of His Majesty the King.
Posted by: Jen on 14 Oct 2007, 17:23 -
Pattaya to light off world’s biggest firework
The Japanese are known for some of the most incredible fireworks shows on earth. The Asakusa fireworks display in Tokyo draws a couple million people to the area each August, while further north on Honshu, where there is more wide open skies, fireworks displays that cost millions entertain locals for various summer festivals.
This is Thailand’s lucky, day, or perhaps just a lucky day for the seaside city of Pattaya. On Sunday, September 30th, The skies over Pattaya Bay will be illuminated by a fireworks display, but not just any fireworks display, this one will include the Japanese built, 125 cm diameter rocket- the largest firework in the world.
The announcement that the record-breaking rocket would launch 800 metres above Pattaya was made at a city council meeting in September by a representative of Thai Mikaza Co. Ltd and Wuttipol Charoenphol, the City Chief of Pattaya.
The celebration, which will also include 120 smaller rockets being exploded in colourful umbrellas of fire are part of another salute to His majesty King Bhumibol in the year of his 80th birthday.
Posted by: DaveB on 04 Oct 2007, 12:52 -
5th Samui food and product fair
It has been announced that running from August 9th to the 15th, the 5th Samui Food and Product fair will be held in Bophut subdistrict’s Chaweng Lake. The fair will showcase local farmer’s produce in a bid to encourage growth both at the farming level as well as hoping restaurants on the island will increase their local purchasing of foodstuffs for their businesses.
Ko Samui is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Southern Thailand and it is known for its many delicious dishes, savoured by visitors from around the world. The Samui mayor Varakon Rattanarak said in a statement that he also saw the fair as way for local food producers to increase their income and create lasting supply relationships with restaurants on the island.
There will be many events over the week to give visitors a sampling of the many local specialties, competitions between products and just to make sure even folks that aren’t so into food will show up, the old faithful attention grabber, a beauty contest to crown Miss Samui will be held.
Posted by: DaveB on 23 Aug 2007, 11:21 -
Royal Flora Exhibit off to Slow Start
The Royal Flora 2007 festival of flowers opened on August 1st to less than the usual fanfare. Funding cuts and problematic politics have left the festival with inadequate funds for staff salaries, meaning that a mere 2,000 visitors will be permitted on site a day.
During the flower festival, the beauty of Chiang Mai really comes alive. Orchids are perhaps the most distinctively Thai flower on display but the festival makes some unusual and memorable combinations, bringing together tropical blooms with cold weather petals in a creation that is a delight to the senses. Flowers aren’t the only thing on display as typically the yearly festival hosts stage shows, beauty contests, parades and large exhibitions.
In previous years, the festival, which is hosted by the Royal Thai Government, opened on August 12th, the date of the Queen’s Birthday. This year it seems uncertain if the exhibition will fully open to the public at all.
Department director-general Adisak Srisapphaki said members of the public will not be able to access sections of the gardens including the international and corporate areas. In addition, although individuals may visit those sections open to the public, groups wishing to tour the facilities must arrange to do so at least five to seven days in advance.
Accommodation in Chiang Mai can be hard to find during the most popular days of the flower festival but there are over 100 hotels with more than 10,900 rooms in the city as well as 128 guest houses and 24 resorts. Chiang Mai is easy to get to from Bangkok with overnight sleeper trains, air conditioned buses and regular flights from Bangkok making the trip several times a day.
Posted by: Jen on 01 Aug 2007, 10:02