Nayao's Special Events: Bon Fai

I happened to come to Thailand at a perfect time. There were so many special events happening, which meant there was a lot to do rather often. The first week we were there, we discovered that there was a festival called Bon Fi. This is a celebration to make the rains come, and also somewhat of a fertility celebration as well.


The kids spent a large portion of the first week getting ready for this festival. They practiced the dance they would do in the parade and even taught us!



The festival itself was very amazing. My friend got some amazing pictures of them getting ready. They are beautiful people.




















I couldn't have prepared myself for the beauty and mystery of this festival. The premise is that there are about 14 different small village communities that come together for this festival, which was originally only done in northern Thailand. All of these communities in the province of Chachengsao are actually from the north and have all moved to the south near the Cambodian border, near Nayao.

Each community builds a float and people walk with it. All of these floats and costumes are made by hand especially for this one weekend. The first day, Friday, the parade happens. The next day, which I didn't get to see, the rockets are fired. What rockets you say? They are made to summon the rains from the Gods. The highest shooting one gets the prize. Here are some of the highlights from this event.

The float that the kids built from SCRATCH in their mechanics shop and art shop.

All the girls dancing in the parade, note that they match their float!

Other floats were rather elaborate. The long part on top is the rocket.

There were some rather interesting people, of course. Some of the first that I saw that I could not take my eyes off of were those dressed almost as if they were African.

I was told that they are not actually African, or even black, as shown. They paint their skin in a black oil and wear curly wigs to represent those who live in the jungle in the far southern areas of Thailand.

This is one of the many people who kept pointing to my camera and then to themselves and me. One would think they wanted us to take a picture of us together, but they really didn't. They just wanted to BE in a picture! This guy was probably the cutest one of them all. Now note that he was wearing a bra, many were. I was told this does not mean he's gay, it just goes along with the fertility part of the festival.


In the following video, the girls of Nayao school can be seen dancing to the Thai song that I heard most while I was there. I'm not sure if it is a traditional song, or a newer popular one, but it was certainly everywhere.

In the meantime, I was finding my inner peace with the monks.

Many were interested in getting us to dance with them, and I did at one point, but was a little reluctant. Watching this video again makes me smile. The people are so colorful in so many ways.

Many were interested in having their picture taken, and just trying to get through to us with any English they knew. These three gentlemen (?) knew quite a bit and I was able to talk to them enough to find out their name, give them my own and where I am from.

As you can see, our conversation became quite the spectacle in front of this little convenience store. As I left, they showed off the fact that they knew the phrase "I love you". It was certainly time to make my exit and head off to Pattaya.