Candle Festival facts for kids

The Candle Festival (known in Thai as Haetian) is held in Ubon Ratchathani, Isan, Thailand.

At the start of rainy season, it is traditional for the devout to donate to monks items of personal use, such as candles. This part of the festival became the core of the Ubon Ratchathani version of the event. It is now a major event both for residents and for tourists: giant candles are paraded through the town, each representing a local temple, district or other institution. The more elaborate versions are accompanied by scenes of Hindu and Buddhist mythology sculpted in wood or plaster and coated with wax.

Images for kids

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  Presentation at the Temple by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1342 (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence).

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  Meeting of the Lord, Russian Orthodox icon, 15th century.

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  Meeting of the Lord, Orthodox icon from Belarus (1731).

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  An Armenian miniature illustrating the subject (Mugni Gospels, ca. 1060).

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  Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Benozzo Gozzoli, 1460-1461 (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

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  Candles on Candlemas Day, Sanok 2013

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  Blessing of the Candles at Candlemas at Calvary Episcopal Church (Rochester, Minnesota)

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  Candlemas Day in the Carpathian region

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  Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, 12th century cloisonné enamel icon from Georgia

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  Presentation of Christ in the Temple, from the Sherbrooke Missal

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  James Tissot, The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (La présentation de Jésus au Temple), Brooklyn Museum

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  Stained glass window at St. Michael's Cathedral (Toronto) depicts Infant Jesus at the Temple

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  Painting from the Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD)

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  Presentation of Christ in the Temple, South German, likely altarpiece wing, late 15th century. (Private collection)