Bun Bang Fai
The Bun Bang Fai festival ( Thai ประเพณี บุญ บั้งไฟ brapheni bun bang fai , rocket festival) is an annual event in northeast Thailand , Isaan , for the tam bun , the creation of merit in the Buddhist faith . The largest festival of its kind takes place in Yasothon .
The event
Bun Bang Fai lasts three days and is celebrated every year at the beginning of the rainy season , i.e. in May, in many villages and settlements of the ethnic Lao in Isaan. In addition, there are typically music events on the first day, traditional dances like Mor Lam , on the second day competitions for the most beautiful float, the best dancers and musicians, and on the third day the highlight is the firing of the self-made rockets . The aim of the rocket builder is to fire the rocket to the greatest height.
The missiles
The actual term for rocket is Jaruat ( จรวด ), the Bang Fai ( บั้งไฟ ) are actually enlarged New Year's rockets , but filled with black powder . The black powder is either placed in a bamboo tube or nowadays mostly in a PVC tube , which then has a standard diameter and is easier to fill. The rules of the rocket competition require that the participant must prepare his rocket himself. Bamboo tubes can be tied together with climbing plants to form longer tubes. The ignition takes place via a fuse or an electric ignition.
There are different sizes of rockets that compete against each other in different competitions: the small ones are called bang Fai Noi ( บั้งไฟ น้อย ). The larger ones are indicated by the numbers for 10,000 ( หมื่น muen ), 100,000 ( แสน saen ) and 1,000,000 ( ล้าน lan ). The largest missiles are not only very expensive but also very dangerous. They are about 9 meters long and contain about 120 kg of black powder. You can reach heights of several kilometers and fly over long distances, but also go off through the crowd. The missiles are judged on the height reached, the distance of the impact and the beauty of the smoke trail.
etymology
- bun ( Thai บุญ ) merit, merits; comes from the Pali word puñña meritorious action and the Sanskrit पुण्य puṇya 'meritorious', see also: Tam bun
- bang ( Thai บั้ง ) a section (mostly made of bamboo)
- fai ( Thai ไฟ ) fire
- brapheni - also prapheni ( Thai ประเพณี ) tradition; comes from Sanskrit परंपर parampara , an uninterrupted sequence
Worth mentioning
In the armed conflict between the state power and the red shirts from the northeast, which paralyzed downtown Bangkok for weeks in the spring of 2010 , some demonstrators also prepared Bang Fai rockets, but did not launch them.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated August 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 27, 2010
