Thailand’s calendar is speckled with festivals and holidays of religious and cultural importance. While some are observed through the entire country, regional ethic groups celebrate their own festivals in their home towns. These unique festivals are attracting crowds that travel across the globe just to glimpse these foreign traditions.
The Moken or Sea Gypsies are of an Austronesian ethnicity and live mainly in the islands off the west coast of Thailand. For the Thai, they are known as the Chao Le or ‘people of the sea’. They follow a nomadic tribal way of life that is mainly based on the sea. Accumulated through countless generations, their knowledge of the surrounding Andaman Seas is quite profound. In fact due to generations of diving and swimming in the sea, they have developed a visual focus that allows them to see better underwater. After finding food by means of fishing and foraging, the excess is sold to mainland or island markets to trade for other necessities. Traditional wooden boats called ‘kabang’ are sometimes used for housing as well as hunting and are greatly valued and preserved by the Chao Le.
As seafarers, the Chao Le has used Phuket islands for centuries and is known as the oldest inhabitants of the islands. Their own deities of the seas are honoured each June and November in the Loi Reua Festival. Three days of celebration bring all the Chao Le in the region to their permanent settlements around Phuket, like Koh Sireh, Rawai and Sapam. Similar in style to the Thai festival of Loy Krathong, festivities take place throughout the day. During the last night, models of their traditional boats are decorated with garlands of flowers and candles. Little wooden dolls filled with bits of hair and nail clippings of the people who are praying for protection are put into the boats and floated off into the sea. Hoping to drive away the evil and bring in good luck, the famous Chao Le dance of Ram Rong Ngeng is performed around the vessels before setting them adrift.
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Thanuja Silva is a travel writer who writes under the pen name Auburn Silver. She has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.