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The Rocket Festival (, ) is a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced by ethnic Lao people at the beginning of the wet season in various villages and municipalities in Northeastern Thailand and Laos. The festivities typically include music and dance performances, competitive processions of floats, dancers, and musicians on the second day, and the competitive firing of homemade rockets on the third day. Local participants and sponsors take advantage of the occasion to enhance their Society, as is customary at Buddhism folk culture throughout Southeast Asia.Nicola Kammerer, Cornelia Ann and Tannenbaum (1996). 9780938692614, Southeast Asia Studies (Monograph 45).. . ISBN 9780938692614
Bun Bang Fai is celebrated in all provinces across Laos, but the most popular one used to be held along the bank of the Mekong in the capital, Vientiane. However, because of considerable urbanization and safety measures, the festivals are now celebrated in nearby villages, including Naxon, Natham, Thongmang, Ban Kern, and Pakkagnoung.
The festival in Thailand also includes special programs and specific local patterns like Bang Fai (parade dance) and a Beautiful Bang Fai float such as Yasothon on the third weekend of May, and continues to Suwannaphum District, Roi Et, on the first weekend of June, and Phanom Phrai District during the full moon of the seventh month in the Lunar calendar's calendar each year. The Bang Fai festival is not only found in Isan, Northeastern Thailand, North Thailand, and Laos, but also in Amphoe Sukhirin, Narathiwat.
Early European explorers who passed through Laos in the 1800s recorded witnessing the rocket festivals in the country. Louis de Carné, in 1866, described a celebration in southern Laos where bamboos loaded with powder went off, producing violent explosions. Furthermore, Etienne Aymonier, visiting Laos in 1883, described Bang Phoai (Bang Fai) as strong tubes of bamboo fretted with cords, or rattans, in which powder was stuffed.
The powder was manufactured in the country by mixing ten parts of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) with three pieces of wood charcoal and a part and a half of sulphur. These rockets were then deposited on trestles at the pagoda. The rockets were paraded around the temple before they were launched the next day. The celebration occurred in May or June.
Anthropology Professor Charles F. Keyes advises, "In recognition of the deep-seated meaning of certain traditions for the peoples of the societies of mainland Southeast Asia, the rulers of these societies have incorporated some indigenous symbols into the national cultures that they have worked to construct in the postcolonial period".
Charles F. Keyes (1995). 082481696X, (SHAPS library of Asian studies) University of Hawai'i Press. 082481696X, p. 285. Giving the "Bun Bang Fai or fire rocket festival of Laos", as one example, he adds that it remains "far more elaborate in the villages than in the cities".
The festival usually lasts two days and begins early in the morning with the associated religious rituals performed by the monks in the temple. Early in the afternoon, a Buddhist procession starts in which villagers carrying money trees circle the central ordination hall, in which there is a Buddha statue, three times in a clockwise rotation on the sound of traditional music (). The money trees are then offered to the monks in a Buddhist ritual believed to garner religious merit. Afterwards, rockets from all involved villages are displayed in the court of the temple, followed by a celebration with traditional music and dance that can last up to the early morning of the next day.
The second day begins with a morning ceremony of food offerings from villagers to the monks in the assembly hall of the temple (). The food usually includes sticky rice, cakes, and other sweets that the faithful line up to place in the monks’ almsbowls during the sermon. In addition, other food dishes are portioned out in small bowls and offered to the monks on rattan trays. The religious leader of the village ritually presents the food to the monks by reciting the Five precepts. The monks, in return, offer the teachings of the Buddha by chanting sutras and sermons. During the sermon, the faithful address prayers to their ancestors and do the Yaat Nam, which consists of having water blessed by a monk before pouring it, drop by drop, on the earth. After the ceremony, a meal is shared by all participants. The faithful believe these offerings grant a long life to anyone who gives with a serene heart.
The religious ceremony is followed by a street parade through the village with pickup trucks displaying the rockets on the sound of the Khene (), cymbals, and . Teams of contestants dance and chant traditional folksong, with the team's leader chanting first and then the others repeating (). Contestants are divided into groups based on the size of their rocket. The competition begins with the firing of the rockets skyward. For each rocket category, scores are given based on how high and far the rocket flies. Builders of failed rockets are thrown in a muddy pond and forced to drink Lao-Lao ().
The celebration in both the United States and France lasts two days and proceeds as in Laos, beginning with a religious ceremony followed by a display and parade of rockets in the Wat with traditional Laoof Soeng Bang Faince on the Soeng Bang Fai music. Unlike in Laos, however, the procession does not conclude with the firing of the rockets, as they are not allowed to be launched because of safety measures. Instead, only small, handcrafted rockets are launched.
In 2005, Lao Bang Fai was chosen to be displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. The deputy abbot of Wat Lao Buddhavong in Virginia acknowledged that "this event is historic and brings recognition and visibility that all Laotians can be proud of". Bun Bang Fai was launched in 1994 by the Lao community and has been celebrated each year since. The religious ceremonies are performed inside the museum on the campus of the University of Washington.
The principal theme of any Hae Bangfai is the Phadaeng and Nang Ai legends. Many floats depict the couple and their retinue. Hàe typically end in a wat, where dancers and accompanying musicians may further compete in traditional folk dance. All groups prominently display the names of their major sponsors. Recalling the fertility rite origins of the festival, parade ornaments and floats often have phallic imagery. The festivities also include cross-dressing, both cross-sex and cross-generational, and alcohol. Perhaps the most popular beverage is a neutral grain spirit called Sura (), but more generally known as Lao Whiskey (, Lao lao) in Laos and Lao khao (, white alcohol) in Thailand. Sato () may also be on offer. On May 9, 1999, a Lan 120 kg rocket exploded 50 meters above ground, just two seconds after launch, killing four people and wounding 11. The Nation (Thailand), 1999-05-10, archive accessed 17 February 2012 [1]
Related to the Chinese Fire Arrow, Bang Fai are made from bamboo bongs. Most contemporary ones, however, are enclosed in PVC piping, making them less dangerous by standardizing their sizes and black-powder charges. Baking or boiling a bong kills insect eggs that otherwise hatch in dead bamboo and eat it. tie long bamboo tails to launching racks. The time it takes for the exhaust to burn through the vines (usually) allows a motor to build up to full thrust; then the tails impart in-flight stability. Ignition comes from a burning fuse or electric match.
Bang Fai come in various sizes, competing in several categories. Small ones are called Bang Fai Noi (). Larger categories are designated by the counting words for 10,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000: Meun (), Saen (), and the largest Bang Fai, the Lan (). Bang Fai Lan are nine metres long and charged with 120 kg of black powder. These may reach altitudes reckoned in kilometres, and travel dozens of kilometres downrange. Competing rockets are scored for the apparent height, distance, and beauty of the vapour trail. A few include skyrocket pyrotechnics. A few also include parachutes for tail assemblies.
Pangkhii's flesh transforms into meat equal to 8,000 . Nang Ai and many of her countrymen ate this flesh, and Phaya Nak vows to allow no one to remain living who had eaten of the flesh of his son. Aroused from the Deeps, he and his watery myrmidons rise and turn the land into a vast swamp. Nagas personify waters running both above and below ground, and nagas run amok are rivers in spate; all of Isan is flooded. Phadaeng flees the flood with Nang Ai on his white stallion, Bak Sam, but she is swept off by Naga's tail, not to be seen again. Bak Sam is seen in parades sporting his stallion's equipage; legend says that he dug a lick called Lam Huay Sam. Phadaeng escapes. His ghost then raises an army of the spirits of the air to wage war on the Nagas. The war continues until both sides are exhausted, and the dispute is submitted to King Wetsawan, king of the North, for arbitration. His decision: the cause of the feud has long since been forgotten, and all disputants must let bygones be bygone.
The legend is retold in many regional variations. One 3000-word poem translated to English
Keyes
When the Lord Buddha was in his Bodhisattva (Pali) incarnation as King of the Toads Phaya Khang Khok, and married to Udon Khuruthawip (Northern Partner-Knowing-Continent), his sermons drew everyone away from Phaya Thaen (), King of the Sky). Phaya Thaen then withheld life-giving rains from the earth for seven years, seven months, and seven days. Acting against the advice of the Toad King, Phaya Naga, King of the Nāga (and personification of the Mekong), declared war on Phaya Thaen and lost.
Persuaded by Phaya Naga to assume command, King Toad enlisted the aid of to build mounds reaching to the heavens, and of venomous and centipedes to attack Phaya Thaen's feet, and of hornets for air support. Previous attempts at aerial warfare against Phaya Thaen in his own element had proved futile; but even the Sky must come down to the ground. On the ground, the war was won, and Phaya Thaen sued for peace. Naga Rockets fired in the air at the end of the dry season are not to threaten Phaya Thaen, but to serve as a reminder to him of his treaty obligations made to Lord Bodhisatta Phaya Khang Khok on the ground. Phaya Nak was given the duty of Color Guard at most Thai and Lao temples.
After the harvest of the resulting crops, Wow thanoo, man-sized kites with a strung bow, are staked out in winter monsoon winds. They are also called Túi-tiù from the sound of the bowstring singing in the wind, which sings all through the night, to signal Phaya Thaen that he has sent enough rain. All participants (including a wow thanoo) were depicted on murals on the front of the former Yasothon Municipal Bang Fai Museum, but were removed when it was remodeled as a learning center.
An English-language translation of a Thai report on Bang Fai Phaya Nark Naga fireballs at Nong Khai gives essentially the same myth (without the hornets and wow) from Thai folk.
Thai political protests in April 2010 similarly had Red Shirts firing bang fai in downtown Bangkok.
In 2013, Vangvieng's Bun Bang Fai was featured in the 2013 film, The Rocket. In the film, a young boy named Ahlo wanted to enter the rocket-making contest, hoping to win a big cash prize and prove that he was not cursed.
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