Thai culture takes the spotlight in festival

The beach-side of the Pacific Islands Club was packed with hundreds of people Saturday night for the 6th Annual Loi Kratong Thai Festival.

According to Lek Algaier, one of the organizers for the event, the festival is a celebration dedicated to their goddess of water, recognizing the importance of water, honoring the flowing waters, rivers, and streams as well as celebrating the harvest season.

“This is a big festival in Thailand, and this year, we’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” she said.

The festival was highlighted with three competitions, including the Nang Nopamas, Kratong, and Ramwong contests.

“Nang Nopamas is a mythical woman who supposedly was the first to practice the Loi Kratong—the making of a float and setting it out to float on water in a sense of taking away bad luck and bringing good luck,” Algaier said.

The contest is similar to a beauty contest as participants dressed in traditional attire.

“It’s about beauty, elegance, and culture,” she said.

In all, 11 women participated in the contest, which ended with Preeyapa Pongthongkam wearing the winning crown, and Buarian Vichapon and Chaweewan Onkok finishing as first and second runners-up.

The Kratong—float—contest was won by Somsa-ard Sirima, followed by Runchida Daengrakam and Sudarat Paul.

“They really put a lot of time into making the floats,” Algaier said. “They have to be artistic, and must have a lot of patience.”

One of the floats featured the carving of radish and carrots, flower pedals, and banana leaves sewn onto a banana trunk base.

The Ramwong contest—circle dance—is a dance competition open to all interested among the crowd.

“This festival is always big for the Thai community. We welcome everybody to learn about our culture, and it’s basically for us to celebrate our festival and share our culture with everybody here. We’re very thankful that we have the opportunity to be here,” Algaier said.

“The Thai community is always looking to give back to the people of Saipan for everything that the community of Saipan gives to the Thai community. We Thais really enjoy living here and what we can do to make the community better, what we can do for the good of all CNMI is good for all of us,” she said.

Victor Oswalt, who joined the celebration with several friends, said, “All of this is very interesting and I’m glad I can come here and be part of it, meet a lot of people, and learn. It’s pretty interesting to see all the dances and traditions.”