Yesterday was Loy Krathong, a Thai holiday. It is held on the full moon every November. According to the almighty Wikipedia, "Loi" means "to float" and "Krathong" is a raft traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions use specially made bread 'flowers' and may use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. The holiday is to pay respect to the water. The act of letting the candle raft float away is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and bad deeds, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. There is usually a parade and beauty contest to go along with all of this. I was part of the parade...
I was told to arrive at the office at 6am, so in good Thai time, I showed up around 7am, which was still too early. There were about 15 women, me included, who were getting their hair, make-up, and clothing all done up for the parade.
First, came the hair. It took about 40 minutes to do up my hair. It was pinned up with seemingly hundreds of bobby pins and sprayed down with a can of hair spray. They put a small wig on top of my head and then my real hair covered that. Otherwise, my hair was done up in a bee hive style.
Then came the make-up, which took at least 30 minutes. I don't think I have ever had so much make-up on in my entire life. They even applied these weird plastic strips on my eyelids. It was quite an ordeal.
Next came time to cover my upper body in this odd white paste mixture so that I looked smooth, pure, and white. These random guys rubbed it all over my arms, neck, and back. We had to wait about 5 minutes to let it dry, and then they rubbed it all smooth.
And finally, came time to actually get dressed. Now I'm not a very big person, but I learned that I'm bigger than Thai women. The top was a wrap around piece that they usually just attach together. Well, it turns out my back bones are broader than the average Thai because it would not fit across my back. I'm standing basically naked behind this curtain as a bunch of people are simultaneously trying to keep me covered and figure out how to get this top to stay on. Eventually the sewed me into it. That's right, they pulled it as tight as it would go and sewed me in with a needle and thread. Then they wrapped the skirt around, which was a bit tight, but better than the top. I was covered with tons of "gold" pieces - necklace, multiple head pieces, clip-on earrings (which painfully pinched my ears), bracelets, and upper arm cuffs. I also wore gold, strappy high heels, which I precariously stuffed my feet into. For those of you who know me well, I'm not a high heel kinda girl, let alone tiny little Thai heels. It was quite the outfit.
At this point, it was around noon, I had already been there for over 5 hours, and the parade didn't start for another 3 hours. So there was a lot of awkward sitting and trying to be as comfortable as possible.
Finally, around 3pm, we walked outside, and entered the start of the parade. The area in front of the SAO was crowded with hundreds of people, loud music, and the floats were all lining up. EVERYONE was so excited to see the foreigner all dressed up and I was stopped for more pictures than I can count. At one point, my teacher friend yelled to me "Just keep smiling! You are the star!" I sure felt like one as I was hoisted up into this float and told to sit in the middle of a lotus flower with other girls sitting around me. I was the center of the float, coming out of a lotus flower.
As the float started moving and the music got louder and the people in the streets started cheering and waving, and I could see the miles of rice fields moving in the wind, I had one of those really odd moments. A moment where I thought to myself "How did I get here? How did this become my life? What is going on???" In light of the tough past weeks and months I've been having, it all for a brief second fell into place. This is my experience; it's no one else's but mine. I'm the one sitting here frustrated and lonely and confused and anxiou in a rice field. But then in this very odd moment sitting in a lotus flower on a parade float, it all just fit. As crazy as that situation was, it all just fit.
The parade was pretty ridiculous, but my favorite part was when the float went by my house. I saw Grandma Next Door out on the corner and the second she saw me, an enormous smile came onto her face and she started waving excitedly and actually jumped up and down. Just once, but she jumped. I smiled and waved back, laughing at how happy that made me feel to see Grandma Next Door so utterly flabergasted that her foreigner was in the parade.
The parade ended at the temple near my house. Later in the evening we all went to the lake and put the floating candles into the lake. It was incredibly beautiful to see the lake filled with candles and the reflection of the full moon. Then there was the entertainment for the evening. Kids from the two pre-schools, which was so fun to see. I work with those kids every week and it was so neat to see them up there dancing and singing. I'm not a kid person, but I felt like a proud parent up close to the stage taking photos. Then the one woman in my village who speaks any English was the MC of the show so she had asked me to do a little comedy show with her. So up I went to the stage, in front of my entire village, and did a little comedy act with her in English and Thai. Yep, I went from sitting in a lotus flower on a float, to answering silly Thai questions on stage with a microphone. The night ended with a beauty pagent, where the contestants had to introduce themeselves, do a runway walk, and perform a talent. The music and entertainment went until after midnight.
I must say that was quite the day. As overwhelming as it was, it was a blast. I had a lot of fun and when I started to get frustrated I just told myself "at least you don't have 50 Thai strangers living in your house..." Just another story to add to the pile. I can't even imagine what's next.
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