MAJOR EVENTS

Bua Tong Blossom Festival
Each year in November, the hillsides of Amphoe Khum Yuam and Amphoe Mae Sariang are filled with a host of golden Bua Tong or wild sunflower blooms. As gay as a daisy and almost as a sunflower, the Bua Tong only blossoms about 30 days. This enough reason for Mae Hong Son provincial to hold the Bua Tong Blossom Festival at Amphoe Khun Yuam.
At Amphoe Khum Yuam's Doi Mae U-Kho, the blossoms appear profusely. Finally, the golden blooms become part of the scene. Some specialists have classified these Bua Tong as weed and because of this, they may be cleared to make way for cash crops. Fortunately a group of researchers have discovered the flower's insect-repellent properties. And perhaps that is why the Bua Tong, a symbol of Mae Hong Son, is still preserved on the hillsides.

Chong Para Procession
The Chong Para in the Thai Yai dialect means a castle made of wood, covered with colorful perforated papers and decorated with fruits, flags and lamps. It is placed in the courtyard of a house or a monastery as a gesture to welcome the Lord Buddha on his return from giving sermons to his mother in heaven, according to traditional belief. The rite is held during the post -rain retreat season from the full-moon day of the 11the Lunar month to the waxing-moon night of the same month.

Other activities to celebrate the occasion include dances where performers are dressed in animal costumes. This is based on the belief that during those long-gone days, both humans and the animal kingdom were equally joyful of the return of the Lord Buddha and therefore joined in a jubilant performance as tribute to the Enlightened One.

Loi Krathong Festival
Loi Krathong Festival is held on the full moon night in the month of November every year. Villagers make "Krathongs" to float in rivers. At Nong Chong Kham, various entertainment and a contest of large krathongs are held near the central pond. Lamps and candles are lit all around the area. Moreover, at Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu, there is a ceremony of releasing candle-lit krathongs bound with balloons to the sky (known as "Loi Krathong Sawan").

Poi Sang Long Procession
This is in fact the celebration of novice ordination which the Thai Yai tribe people hold to be a highly meritorious occasion. Traditionally, the candidate-novice, his head cleanly shaven and wrapped with head-cloth in the Burmese style, will don a prince-like garment and put on valuable jewels and gems, and ride a horse or be carried over the shoulders of a man to the city shrine. Then he will visit abbots of various monasteries to beg for forgiveness. On the ordination eve, a procession of offerings and other necessary personal belongings will be paraded through the town streets and then placed at the monastery where the ordination will take place the next day. It is usually held during March-May before the Buddhist Rain Retreat period.

INAPOI