Stories from the Field

December 2004

Thai Twist on Holiday Traditions

From a Christian worker in the Pacific Rim

In Thailand, December marks Father's Day, established to honor the king on his birthday, and the Loy Krathong Festival, one of the two most famous festivals of the year. Loy Krathong comes at the end of the rainy season to honor Mae Kongkha, the goddess of the water. Small, carefully handcrafted floats, often made of banana leaves and intricately carved fruit and carrying incense, flowers, a coin and a candle, are set afloat in bodies of water throughout the country. This is an act of giving thanks and asking for forgiveness. Those participating will light their candle, make a wish and launch their krathong (float) believing it will carry away their sins and bad luck. There is much ceremony that accompanies this 800-year-old tradition that, from the outside, looks elaborate and beautiful. And the Thai people who feel compelled to honor it are completely sincere. But my heart is filled with sadness over the deceptiveness of this pagan tradition.

Every day, I pray that as the Thai people prepare and launch their krathongs, their eyes would be opened to the futility of the act. Pray with me that they would come to understand that the God they are longing for is declaring His great glory to them day after day through all of His creation and they can KNOW Him. He is not a lifeless, “unknown god,” as Mae Kongkha is. Pray with me that Thai believers would be bold and courageous in their proclamation of the good news in this land that has been blinded for so many generations. Pray that God's Spirit would descend upon this place in power and that He would be known for who He is and what He has done!