Candle festivals were held all over Thailand last weekend; but the biggest, best and original gathering of candles can be found in Ubon Ratchathani. Temples from the city and surrounding regions compete for trophies which are then displayed in the temple in a very non-Buddhist fashion.
To create an entry capable of winning, a temple will need sponsorship to purchase the vast amounts of wax required. Less affluent temples are limited to a small display:
But if you have the cash, then you can make a substantial candle:
With some trimmings to make a bit more of an impact:
Creating one of these monsters takes weeks; and they were still being constructed on the day before the parade. Wax was being prepared:
And workers were finishing off the construction:
The next temple we visited took a more complex approach. They started with a red base, and then laid on detail with thousands of small pieces of wax.
Monks had to take a break from meditating to help in the production process.
All this effort would survive for a few hours in the parade, before the sun started the inevitable process of reducing the creations to large, sticky puddles.
Comments 🔗
2010-08-01| Billy saysI’d love to know what the Monk with the MP3 player was listening to … a bit of Coldplay perhaps?
2010-08-01| Billy saysor Candle in the Wind?
2010-08-01| Q’on saysamazing artwork… OIT
2010-08-01| Spike saysI have it on good authority that he was listening to “Lick my love pump” by Spinal Tap.