FIRE IN THE SKY

THAILAND’S NOISIEST event returns to the northeast next month as Yasothon once again plays host to the 2015 edition of the Bun Bung Fai Rocket Festival.

Held every May about a month before rice planting begins, the festival sees local folk fire home-made rockets into the clear blue skies in a homage to the heavens and a reminder to the Rain God that the time has come to deliver downpours to aid the growing season.

Just like Songkran, the Rocket Festival is a home coming for the province’s migrants and this year it’s expected to draw a crowd of some 50,000 visitors.

The event gets underway at Phrya Than public park in the city centre on May 8 and runs through May 10, the day on which the rockets are launched. 

For several days beforehand, the locals leave their routine work behind, and head to the temples for rocket making.

Out on the empty Isaan plains, Yasothon folk don’t need quantum physics to make their rockets fly. Led by monks, keepers of the well-kept secret formula, these rural rocket engineers place gunpowder inside long plastic pipes of varying sizes. 

The smaller rockets are fancier in the way they shoot up into the heavens while the large ones look way too threatening to fly. But looks and paint jobs are not the main deal with these “bung fai”. The secret lies in how to make the rockets fly high and in the right direction.

Once these fiery offerings are completed they’re loaded on to floats pulled by handsome bulls and paraded around the town allowing visitors to admire the gigantic missiles up close. The Rocket Festival is a living, dancing museum of Isaan cultures and traditions and the gaps between the floats are filled with groups of men covered in white powder and wearing frog masks doing a weird dance with phallic and vulvic items – the symbols of fertility. 

The whole atmosphere is an unfakeable indicator of the style and emotion of Isaan.

On launch day, Sunday, May 10, thousands of people converge in Yasothon’s civic park. Projectiles shoot off everywhere – big ones every half hour, small ones all the time. Groups of monks sit under the trees while families wander past vendors selling beer, lao khao liquor, chicken, wooden phalluses and balloons.

The crowd thickens where the giant rocket launchers stand at the far end of the park. These respectable-sized rockets are made of blue PVC drainage pipe and packed with explosives.

The higher the rockets go, say the locals, the more rain will come. The higher the rockets go, the gamblers add, the more they’ll win on their wagers. 

But not every rocket will fly since the God Rain needs a twist. If yours didn’t go anywhere, expect an embarrassing treat – dancing in the mud until you look like a walking cookie.

There is plenty of shouting to help bring forth good rains for wealth and for survival. And while most of the rockets do fly, some don’t – generally those that are too big, too powerful and way too ambitious.

 

IF YOU GO

< Yasothorn is about 550 kilometres from Bangkok. Overnight buses leave from Mor Chit bus station. Otherwise fly to Ubon Ratchathani and catch a bus from there. 

<The Rocket Festival takes place in Yasothon from May 8 to 19. The hotels are usually fully booked. Mukdahan province, a short drive from Yasothon, is your best bet for a comfy bed.

<Staying safe is a must for anyone watching the launches as the rockets sometimes decide to change direction. Keep your eyes open as the rockets take off and when you are told “don’t get too close to the launching station”, listen and obey.