Phi Ta Khon Festival (Ghost Festival) – An epic celebration

Just like Mexico’s festival of the dead, Thailand celebrates the Phi Ta Khon Festival in explicit colour and excitement in the month of June. Locals dress up in colourful costumes and masks with pointed teeth and dance to folk tunes in celebration of the day. The story behind this day is quite fantastic.

The Buddha was once believed to have been a prince in a rebirth. The prince gifted a poor village the treasured white elephant of the kingdom and was exiled. The elephant was a treasure as it brought rain to the land. The people soon realised that they were wrong and invited the prince to come back to the kingdom with a party that was so epic, that the dead were awakened as well. If you happen to be at a hotel in Koh Phangan the likes of Anantara Rasananda Koh Phangan Villas, you can join in the festivities too.