ABOVE: Disregarding the obvious rocket-envy of the uploader’s shitty caption, this video believed to be from last year captures the glory of Yasothon’s Rocket Festival.
Deep in the northeast, in Yasothon province where everything is awesome, one of Thailand’s most wondrous festivals will rocket to the sky next month to occasionally crash and burn.
It’s a great excuse to either take a seven-hour road trip or book a cheap flight to Roi Et province for the Bun Bang Fai, or rocket festival, which runs May 8 through 12.
A tradition among ethnic Lao, the festival takes off as summer prepares to give way to the rainy season, with all the rollicking music and dance and carousing one would expect. There are parades, traditional dancing, but most of all it’s the ginormous homemade rockets sent into the heavens on a wing and many prayers during the third day that puts the “Amazeballs” in “Amazeballs Thailand.”
Opening day includes a parade, rocket processsion, cheerleader contest and the Miss Bang Fai beauty pageant. After all, some cheerleaders and beauties are essential to helping get all those rockets up.
If that sounds phallic, well that’s because it is. The Bun Bang Fai is the legacy of pre-Buddhist fertility rites.
During the second day, Japanese and international rockets take to the skies, while the third day is reserved for the main event: seriously competitive launches to win categories such as Whose Rocket Can Go the Highest, Fancy Rocket and Powerful Rocket.
Coconuts TV checked it out in 2013:
Related:
