Thais to wash away awful year

Thais to wash away awful year

BANGKOK (AFP): Thais hoped to wash away their year's misfortunes in a special festival yesterday after enduring the country's worst economic slump in decades.

Tens of thousands of people would launch banana leaves laden with candles -- and sometime hair and nail clippings -- onto the country's waterways later yesterday to celebrate the Loy Krathong festival.

The traditional Thai event is held annually to cleanse participants of their year's troubles and to pay tribute to the water, a crucial element of social and religious life here.

Thousands of people line the banks of rivers and canals across the country to see the flickering floats go by, hopefully taking with them the misfortunes of the person who launched the "krathong".