Loy Krathong is a festival celebrated throughout Thailand with the festivities in Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya being particularly well known. Thais use the festival to thank the goddess of water for providing life to the fields and forests and asks for forgiveness for polluting ways of the human.
Loosely translated, Loy Krathong means, “to float a basket”.
“Loy” means to float and a “Krathong” is a small handmade boat traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk. Modern-day versions often use styrofoam or bread which will disintegrate after a few days and can be eaten by fish.

Buddhist devotees often craft krathong with banana leaves and adorn them with flowers, candles, and incense sticks. On the night of the full moon, they light the candles and joss-sticks, and launch their krathong on a river, canal or a pond, making a wish as they do so and paying respects to the water goddess that guard the river.
It is believed that the krathongs take away sins and bad luck and carry the wishes that have been made for the new year to start.

In Chiang Mai, Loy Krathong coincides with the Lanna (Northern Thai) festival of Yee Peng, or full moon day of the second month of Lanna traditional calendar (the twelveth month according to Thai traditional calendar).
Yee means “two”, and Peng means “a full moon day”.

In this festival, lighted Khom Loi (Lanna style sky lanterns) are released into the air through the course of the night. The act of releasing the lantern symbolizes letting go of all ills and misfortunes in the previous year, and Buddhists also believe that if you make a wish when you set off the lantern, it will come true (but only if you do good deeds the following year).
It is during Yee Peng that you see locals’ homes and public places decked out in colourful hanging lanterns and flag decorations.

In Chiang Mai, the entire festival of Loy Krathong and Yee Peng take place over three days, from the 2nd – 4th of November, 2017. Though there are events scattered over five or six days. This is the time where you will see lights floating on the waters, lights hanging from buildings, and lights floating in the sky.
The festival will officially begin on the 2nd with the opening ceremony at Lanna Folklife Museum at 7 pm.

The festival features activities at various venues throughout the city such boat races on the Mae Ping River, Yee Peng lantern procession and contest, beauty pageants, krathong parades, local games and performances. During the evenings of the 2nd and the 3rd, there will be performances of Lanna folk dances around the moat.
Head to the Nawarat Bridge to participate in releasing a krathong into the Ping river and lanterns into the sky. You will find vendors selling krathong, floating lanterns and even fireworks along the river bank. Price of each krathong and lantern ranges from 30 to 100 baht depending on their sizes.

Sky lanterns are sold at various locations around Chiang Mai city throughout the festival period and the night sky is filled with the sight of sky lanterns.
Nawarat Bridge, and along the bank of Ping River as well as temple with bigger garden such as Wat Lok Mo Lee are the popular spot for releasing sky lanterns. At Wat Lok Mo Lee and the First Church of Chiang Mai, there will be a musical stage campaign during the festival.

The spectacular massed sky lantern release is a popular tourist activity. It takes place at Mae Jo, some 30km away from Chiang Mai city. Note that this is not an official Yee Peng event, but rather a privately arranged and ticket-entranced event mainly for tourist, predominantly the large Chinese group.
Though tickets are often hard to come by, it’s still a great idea to bring your camera to capture the photogenic moment of tens of thousands of sky lantern mass release. The compound outside the event area is equally crowded with locals and tourists wanting to be part of this wonderful event.
Read here about Where To See Chiang Mai Yee Peng (Yi Peng) Mass Sky Lantern Event 2017.

On November 3rd, The Great Sermon will be hosted at eight temples including Wat Suan Dok, Wat Chiang Yuen, Wat Chai Sri Poom, Wat Bupparam, Wat Chai Mongkol, Wat Nuntaram, Wat Rampueng and Wat Jed Yod from 6 am to 8 pm.
Expectantly, hotels in Chiang Mai get snapped up quickly during this festive period by other travellers. Try to stay near the Tha Phae Gate as this is where the last day’s celebrations will take place. On November 4th, the grand Krathong parade will begin at 7 pm from Tha Pae Gate to Chiang Mai Municipality Office.
See the official schedules of 2017 Loy Krathong and Yee Peng Lantern Festivals, announced by The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT):