November 05, 2008 19:27 PM
Loy Krathong Festival Lights Up ECER Tourism
TUMPAT, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Kelantan expects to draw some 15,000 to 20,000 local and foreign tourists to the annual Loy Krathong festival, a cultural and heritage event for the East Coast Economic Region (ECER), which it is hosting on Nov 10-12.
Kelantan Tourism Action Council (KTAC) general manager Sulaiman Ismail said today that the festival, originating from Thailand and celebrated by the Siamese community in Kelantan, had attracted tens of thousands of visitors since 2004 and had been listed in the popular online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia.
He told reporters that various events had been drawn up for the celebration, including a car parade, decorated floats, beauty contest, exhibition and cultural performances on the heritage and legacy of the Siamese descendants in Kelantan.
The Loy Krathong festival, jointly organised by the Kelantan Siamese Association, KTAC, Department of Culture, Arts and Heritage Kelantan and Tourism Malaysia Kelantan, will be held at Wat Phukulthong Vararam in Kampung Terbak, here.
The word 'Loy' means to float while 'Krathong' means lotus shaped vessel made of banana leaves. The Krathong usually contains a candle, joss stick, some flowers and coins.
According to Siamese tradition, floating a candle raft is symbolic of releasing sins and bad luck, to start the coming year with fresh hope and good luck.
-- BERNAMA
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