Boun Bang Fai (Rocket Festival)

A ceremony praying for rain is performed at the temple in the morning. In the afternoon, people gather in fields on the outskirts of villages and towns to launch the rockets with much abandoned revelry. Villages, communities and departments compete for the "best decorated" and the "highest traveling" rocket. Beginning around the middle of May, the festivals are staggered from place to place enable more participation and attendance. This is the time when an offering to the spirits can be made in a corner of one's garden, early each morning.