While technically the Phi Ta Khon or “Ghost Festival” is only one of the early ceremonies of a multi-day festival celebrated in Dan Sai, Loei province, it has become synonymous with the entire three day Buddhist holiday called Boon Phra Wate.
Typically celebrated between March and July, the three days are selected each year by village mediums, who are told the auspicious dates by local spirits that are important participants in the Phi Ta Khon festivities.
In legend, the event honors the return of Prince Vessandorn, an incarnation of the Buddha, whose subjects were so overjoyed by his reappearance that their rejoicing woke the dead, who subsequently joined in the festivities. Consequently, on the first day of celebrations, the Phi Ta Khon festival features locals dressed as ghosts, wearing hand-carved wooden masks, and dancing in provocative but good natured ways.
The second day of the festival starts more solemn, when villagers visit temples, though the launching of home made rockets, more dancing, and competitions for dancing, masks, and costumes maintains much of the celebratory tone of the first day.
On the final day, villagers visit the local temple to hear the sermons of the Buddha in a genuinely moving and spiritual way, as all the good fun of the earlier days is forgotten in order to pay homage to their spiritual teacher and be thankful for their modest yet harmonious way of rural life
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