Boun Ok Phansa, letting the light go
Laos marks the end of Buddhist Lent with Boun Ok Phansa, its festival of light — again its own festival on its own date, not Mid-Autumn, and again built around the same two ingredients: water and a great many candles. Little boats made of leaves and flowers, each with a candle in it, are carried down to the river after dark and let go. Watching a child decide to let go of the boat they just built is most of what the night is.
That is why so many of these pictures are about giving something up or handing something over — a grandfather’s leaf boat, two floats sharing one candle, a found coin, an apology at the night market, a fisherman saying thank you. There are golden temple steps in there too, for a child who would rather colour architecture than feelings.
