Revamp Loy Krathong

The festival of Loy Krathong needs to be brought into the 21st century and the celebration modified to fit the current reality. There is nothing wrong with taking the time and energy to pay homage to the Water Spirit, whether you take this literally or metaphorically.

Water is a force that allows for life on all levels. Every living system relies on this substance for sustenance. Historically, the celebratory act of floating flowers as gifts made sense when the waters were clean and pure. Today though, you cannot even safely drink these waters from a tap. Compensating for this by drinking bottled water actually adds more to the pollution through plastic waste and production. If there is a Water Goddess, she surely is rolling her eyes and shaking her head at such an homage.

So why not honour water in a meaningful and productive way? Instead of increasing the pollution by floating contaminants (and yes, even if the flowers are bio-degradable they are still contaminants) why not have a celebration of cleansing? This would actually be meaningful and in line with the ideal of honouring.

A social ritual of rubbish removal would be wonderful. Dedication of water treatment facilities would be spectacular. Identifying water polluters and correcting the problems would be laudable.

Something different needs to done if the people of Thailand want to have water worth celebrating in the future. DARIUS HOBER