Loy Kratong is tomorrow (also, Happy Halloween!), but a groundswell of opposition to its environmental impact has led to calls not to celebrate it this year.
While the nation’s traditional festivities are going ahead as usual this year and countless numbers of krathong, or floats, will be deposited into waterways for a few fleeting seconds of admiration, an online campaign is asking the public to refrain, driving #NoLoykrathong2020 to rise atop trending hashtags on Thai Twitter today.
A number of people said the tradition spoils the very waters it is meant to venerate.
“Stop worship by putting trash in it,” Twitter user @Yooinnareligion wrote.
Bangkok collects 60 tons of krathong waste from waters
“Trash [comes] from this traditional festival,” @Neophiliac7 said. “Loy Krathong has been known to [cause] water pollution, since many krathong and other non-biodegradable components get stuck in waterways and sewers. We have to stop making trash.”
Materials to make a krathong vary from banana leaves to styrofoam, bread and fish food. A push in recent years to use natural materials instead of styrofoam has led to modest reductions in the amount of plastic waste, but tons of waste still end up piling up, making for a wretched morning after.
Last year a group of friends virtually floated a krathong to wide praise and calls to make it common practice.
ลอยกระทงแบบนี้ก็ได้จ้า ยังบันเทิงอยู่ ได้ลอยสืบสานประเพณีไทยแต่ไม่สร้างขยะhttps://t.co/ETYkIsaE4v#งดลอยกระทง63 pic.twitter.com/u4rj4q29p0
— ดับเบิ้ลยูเอโอ 🐱 (@_wawao) October 30, 2020
Still set on floating your boat, despite that nagging obligation to do your part for the sorry state of the world?
Fine. The BTS Skytrain this morning posted information about which stations people can alight in order to find prime spots to celebrate the old-fashioned way.
Related
Loy Krathong cleanup: Nearly 850,000 floats collected from Bangkok waterways
