loy krathong

(Please excuse the blurry pictures, we were walking fast and it was almost dark.)

Loy Krathong is a Thai holiday that began around 700 years ago. It is celebrated on the last full moon of the year by floating krathongs in the water. The floating of the krathong is done to symbolize letting go of bad habits or to pay homage to the water spirits or for good luck. (Don't quote me on any of this, I'm getting it all from wikipedia as we speak.)

E made a couple of krathongs at school so that night we put the girls in their "traditional Thai clothes" (which we bought for a grand total of $4 the day before) and went to a nearby park to float the krathongs. 

The park was full of stalls selling krathongs and everything else you could imagine. We briefly considered buying a turtle but remembered we don't really like animals.

One of hers was made out of bread (breaks down in the water to make food for fish and turtles) and was decorated with flowers that fall from the trees in our garden. The other was a more traditional and fancier and I really doubt she made it.

There's a song that goes with Loy Krathong, it goes something like, "Loy loy loy loy krathong..."and then some Thai words I don't recognize. The week before the holiday E was in a Thai dance class where they played this song over and over. Needless to say, I had it stuck in my head pretty much the entire time I was awake. But in a cruel twist, in my head it starts out the same and then morphs into the the Jake and the Neverland Pirates theme songs, something like this, "Loy loy loy loy krathong, the merry crew of Never Land Pirates. Through & Through - they're jolly buccaneers. Join with Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Come Along - We need some volunteers" 

This, I have decided, is the theme song of my life right now. 

And this is probably why Violet feels it's necessary to walk at 9 months.