The Rocket Festival (Thai: ประเพณีบุญบั้งไฟ, romanized: Prapheni Bun Bang Fai, Lao: ບຸນບັ້ງໄຟ, romanized: Bun Bang Fai) is a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced by ethnic Lao people at the beginning of the wet season in various villages and municipalities in Northeastern Thailand and Laos. The festivities typically include music and dance performances, competitive processions of floats, dancers, and musicians on the second day, and the competitive firing of homemade rockets on the third day. Local participants and sponsors take advantage of the occasion to enhance their social prestige, as is customary at traditional Buddhist folk festivals throughout Southeast Asia. Bun Bang Fai is celebrated in all provinces across Laos, but the most popular one used to be held along the bank of the Mekong river in the capital, Vientiane. However, because of considerable urbanization and safety measures, the festivals are now celebrated in nearby villages, including Naxon, Natham, Thongmang, Ban Kern, and Pakkagnoung. The festival in Thailand also includes special programs and specific local patterns like Bang Fai (parade dance) and a Beautiful Bang Fai float such as Yasothon on the third weekend of May, and continues to Suwannaphum District, Roi Et, on the first weekend of June, and Phanom Phrai District during the full moon of the seventh month in the Lunar year's calendar each year. The Bang Fai festival is not only found in Isan, Northeastern Thailand, North Thailand, and Laos, but also in Amphoe Sukhirin, Narathiwat.
History
These Buddhist festivals are presumed to have evolved from pre-Buddhist fertility rites held to celebrate and encourage the coming of the rains, from before the 9th century invention of black powder. This festival displays some earthy elements of Lao folklore. Bun Bang Fai originates from ancient times when ethnic Lao people believed in many gods and is mentioned in tales, such as 'The Tale of Pha Daeng–Nang Ai' (Lao: ນິທານຂອງຜາແດງ-ນາງໄອ່) and 'The Tale of Phaya Khankhak' (Lao: ນິທານຂອງພະຍາຄັນຄາກ). In the literature of Laos, such stories refer to the firing of rockets to the heavens to communicate with the God of Rain (Lao: ພະຍາແຖນ, romanized: Phaya Thaen) and persuade him to send the rains to the earth in a timely fashion for cultivation. Early European explorers who passed through Laos in the 1800s recorded witnessing the rocket festivals in the country. Louis de Carné, in 1866, described a celebration in southern Laos where bamboos loaded with powder went off, producing violent explosions. Furthermore, Etienne Aymonier, visiting Laos in 1883, described Bang Phoai (Bang Fai) as strong tubes of bamboo fretted with cords, or rattans, in which powder was stuffed. The powder was manufactured in the country by mixing ten parts of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) with three pieces of wood charcoal and a part and a half of sulphur. These rockets were then deposited on trestles at the pagoda. The rockets were paraded around the temple before they were launched the next day. The celebration occurred in May or June. Anthropology Professor Charles F. Keyes advises, "In recognition of the deep-seated meaning of certain traditions for the peoples of the societies of mainland Southeast Asia, the rulers of these societies have incorporated some indigenous symbols into the national cultures that they have worked to construct in the postcolonial period". Giving the "Bun Bang Fai or fire rocket festival of Laos", as one example, he adds that it remains "far more elaborate in the villages than in the cities".
In Laos
Bun Bang Fai is held over the sixth Lunar month, usually around May and June, coinciding with the plantation and the beginning of the rainy seasons. Several months before the festival, an organizing committee is formed in each future host village to discuss the festival. Weeks before the festival, bamboo rockets are built and decorated by monks and villagers.
The festival usually lasts two days and begins early in the morning with the associated religious rituals performed by the monks in the temple. Early in the afternoon, a Buddhist procession starts in which villagers carrying money trees circle the central ordination hall, in which there is a Buddha statue, three times in a clockwise rotation on the sound of traditional music (Lao: ພິທີແຫ່ຕົ້ນເງິນ, romanized: Phi Thee Hae Ton Ngoen). The money trees are then offered to the monks in a Buddhist ritual believed to garner religious merit. Afterwards, rockets from all involved villages are displayed in the court of the temple, followed by a celebration with traditional music and dance that can last up to the early morning of the next day. The second day begins with a morning ceremony of food offerings from villagers to the monks in the assembly hall of the temple (Lao: ພິທີຕັກບາດ, romanized: Phi Thee Tak Baat). The food usually includes sticky rice, cakes, and other sweets that the faithful line up to place in the monks’ almsbowls during the sermon. In addition, other food dishes are portioned out in small bowls and offered to the monks on rattan trays. The religious leader of the village ritually presents the food to the monks by reciting the five precepts of Buddhism. The monks, in return, offer the teachings of the Buddha by chanting sutras and sermons. During the sermon, the faithful address prayers to their ancestors and do the Yaat Nam, which consists of having water blessed by a monk before pouring it, drop by drop, on the earth. After the ceremony, a meal is shared by all participants. The faithful believe these offerings grant a long life to anyone who gives with a serene heart.
The religious ceremony is followed by a street parade through the village with pickup trucks displaying the rockets on the sound of the Khene (Lao: ແຄນ), cymbals, and long drums. Teams of contestants dance and chant traditional folksong, with the team's leader chanting first and then the others repeating (Lao: ພິທີເຊີ້ງບັ້ງໄຟ, romanized: Phi Thee Soeng Bang Fai). Contestants are divided into groups based on the size of their rocket. The competition begins with the firing of the rockets skyward. For each rocket category, scores are given based on how high and far the rocket flies. Builders of failed rockets are thrown in a muddy pond and forced to drink Lao-Lao (Lao: ເຫຼົ້າລາວ).
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