Bo Sang Umbrella Festival (20-22 Jan)
Bo Sang UmbrellaAt this festival, Bo Sang Village holds a demonstration and sale of various items made of sa paper, especially umbrellas. Besides, there are cultural shows, parades and handicrafts competition.
Flower Festival (3-5 Feb)
Flower Festival, Chiang Mai
This event occurs during the period when Chiang Mai's temperate and tropical flowers are in full bloom. The festivities include colourful floral floats, parades, traditional dancing shows and a beauty contest.
Chiang Mai Art & Culture Festival (April)
It features an exhibition of works of arts of the contemporary lanna (northern) artists, dramas, cultural shows, concerts and sales of local products.
Songkran Festival (13 - 15 April)
Songkran Festival, Chiang Mai
The celebrations of this festival in Chiang Mai has become more and more famous each year. The traditional events include merit-making at temples, cultural shows, dancing shows, a beauty contest and parade and good-natured water throwing. One significant event is the procession of highly revered Phra Phuttha Sihing Buddha image through the streets of Chiang Mai for people to sprinkle water at as a form of worship.
Lantern Festival & Loi Krathong Festival
Lantern Festival, Chiang Mai
This old festival held on the full moon night of November is said to be the most charming of all in Thailand. In Chiang Mai, a procession of floats with beautiful maidens sitting on goes through the city to the bank of the Mae Ping River, where hundreds of people assembling to float their banana-leaf containers (krathong) decorated with flowers and candles onto the river to worship the Goddess of Water. Moreover, Lanna-style hot-air lanterns are launched which are believed to help rid the locals of troubles and are also taken to decorate houses and streets
May
Labour Day (public holiday) – May 1
Coronation Day (public holiday) – May 5
Visakha Bucha Day (public holiday) – date falls in May/June (May 13, 2014)
June
Asahna Bucha Day (public holiday) – date usually falls in July/early-August (July 11, 2014)
Khao Phansa (public holiday) – falls on the day after Ashana Bucha (July 12, 2014) (Monday, July 14 is a substitution day public holiday)
August
H.M. Queen’s Birthday (public holiday) – August 12
October
Chulalongkorn Day (public holiday) – October 23
November
Loy Krathong – date usually falls in November (November 17, 2013)
Yi Peng Lantern Festival, Chiang Mai – held to coincide with Loy Krathong
Mass Lantern Release, Mae Jo, Chiang Mai
The mass lantern release at Mae Jo is organized by an independent Buddhist group around the time of Loy Krathong/Yi Peng. The dates vary each year with the final date not usually confirmed until a few months before at the earliest. Please see here for more information:
Dates of the 2013 Mae Jo sky lantern release, Chiang Mai »
December
H.M. King’s Birthday (public holiday) – December 5
Constitution Day (public holiday) – December 10
New Year’s Eve (public holiday) – December 31. New Year Countdown events held at various locations in Thailand including Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pattaya
