58 | Culture Ways of Life and Wisdom
As for the rocket parade, in addition to the beautifully decorated rockets that demonstrates
local wisdom, there is rocket folk dance performed by villagers together with singing and dancing
along the beats of Tum drum. They also play games showing the way of life of people in the
society, such as fishing. Originally in the parade, it used to be only male participants. Some of
them dressed up as women or bring the female puppets to pose sexual positions along the
way. Their verses of folk dances are also full of sexual stories and humorous jokes to ask for
rain from angels. In some parades they play sexual comedies to make the parade colorful and
nobody minds. In later times, when the rocket folk dance has become a community tradition and
resulted in a competition between villages, the format and content of the rocket folk dance has
been also changed. Participants consist of both real men and women, creating beautiful dance
styles. The host’s village will prepare welcoming food such as Khao Pun (Khanom chin) in grilled
fish (crispy fish) soup with alcoholic drinks and tobacco (tobacco rolled in dry banana leaf).
Normally, the Rocket Festival is organized for two days only. On the first day, the rocket
parade is called “Wan Home”, while on the next day, villagers dressed in beautiful costume
will bring best food and sweets as offerings to temples. After making merit and having lunch
together, they will carry thier rockets to the base in order to fire the rockets one by one, which
is considered as a forecast. If the rocket rise well, it is predicted that it will rain well and food
will be abundant. If the rocket does not go up or exploded, it is predicted that it will be drought.
Relying on such beliefs, each community must put every effort into shooting the rocket to the
sky as far as possible.
• When the rocket parade is finished,
villagers will gather rockets from
the other villages together and hold
a celebration on that night.
On the next day, they will lit
a “Predicting Rocket” to forecast
the weather if rain will fall seasonally.
If the Rocket rises well, the rainfall
and the water will be abundant.