High-flying rockets are the harbinger of good fortune

Villagers across the country launch hundreds of thousands of home-made rockets into the sky each year, asking for rain, prosperity, a good harvest, good luck and good health for them and their families.
In Laos, rocket festivals are held throughout the country, usually in May, but sometimes after Lao New Year at the end of April, at the start of the rainy season. The Boun Bang Fay will end in late July. It is a longstanding tradition that benefits the host village and is great fun for all concerned.

A rocket hurtles its way into the sky.

Before the rocket festival or Boun Bang Fay, local participants form teams of keen rocket-builders to construct the best rockets using traditional bamboo rocket bases that are elaborately decorated and some are made with long PVC pipes. People start building their own rockets already weeks, sometimes months in advance.
The rockets are powered by gunpowder and they fire them up to the sky in noisy rockets during the Boun Bang Fay.
The rockets come in a variety of sizes from very small to very large, but they all have the same intentions. Small rockets of one to five kilogrammes, huge rockets weigh 12 kg are called Bang Fay Meun Bang Fay Sene (120kg).
Throughout the entire day of a rocket festival, people’s faces are wreathed in smiles. Even though people may never have met before, conversation flows as easily as if they were old friends.
People believe that sending rockets into the sky will provoke the gods into sending rain, which is much needed after the long dry season when the earth is parched, so that farmers can get their rice crops in the ground. It is thought that firing rockets is a way of both worshipping and reminding the gods that it is time to provide rain.
After propelling the rockets into the heavens, everyone hopes the rains will soon arrive so they can start planting their crops as well as enjoy some relief from the hot weather.
Recently, I went to meet a man named Mr Souksakhone Soukaseum in Xaysettha district’s Nonway village, a long-time resident of Vientiane, who is a great fan of rocket festivals.
Last May, he and his family went to a rocket festival in Soukhouma district, Champassak province, where he was born.
When I visited him, my motorcycle came to a stop in front of his house and I called his name a few times.
After a while a woman, whom I later learnt was his wife, appeared at the door. I greeted her and told her that I had come to see Mr Souksakhone.
A few minutes later, a tall and slightly dark-skinned man with curly hair walked out of the door. He smiled in a friendly way when he saw me standing outside his house on a typically hot May day.

This man and his rocket-making team are mired in mud after their rocket exploded on launch and he and his friends were thrown into the mud next to the launch site.

Our conversation was halting at first but gained momentum because of his evident enthusiasm for rocket festivals.
“I don’t know how many years this festival has existed but I know it’s been going on long before many people I know were born, including myself, and I’m now 42. Lao people have upheld this tradition from generation to generation,” the man said.
The annual Rocket Festival is arguably one of the most colourful, entertaining and fun celebrations in Laos and heralds the start of the rainy season.
It is one of the biggest and most important festivals in Laos and people all over the country enjoy the challenge and entertainment it offers.
The festival is a lot of fun, as it’s not just about launching rockets. Some men dress up in outrageous costumes and don make-up. It’s not uncommon to see men wearing a skirt, tying balloons inside their shirts to give themselves a generous bust, and strapping a large wooden penis to their waist.
The men who launch the rockets dress in odd clothes and play music and dance in a traditional style before going up on to the launch platform.
Host villagers are happy to welcome people from neighbouring communities and everyone gathers in groups to cheer as their favourite rockets are ignited.
Not only is Soukhouma district Mr Souksakhone’s hometown, it is also host to one of the most exciting rocket festivals in the country.
As we talked, his wife, whose name was Khampom, came to sit beside him on a wooden chair under a tree in front of their house. “It’s so much fun in Soukhouma; rocket launchers and cheerleaders are thrown into the mud next to the rocket launch site if the rocket explodes or doesn’t reach a decent height,” she said with a grin.
During the festival, people march in a procession with their rockets around the village temple three times, cheering loudly and shouting out wishes for their rockets to ascend into the heavens.
Then they pay homage to the Buddha image and pray to the gods for their success of their rocket launch, hoping for adulation from the onlookers rather than ridicule should the missile fall to the ground.
If a rocket soars into the sky, it is a sign that this year the rains will be plentiful, and good luck and good health will ensue. But of course not every rocket reaches a dizzying height.
Traditionally, the rocket festival was held every year, but some villages space them out by three or five years depending on their circumstances.
The festival is welcomed by the host village as everyone gets together for a good time and there’s money to be made by selling food and drinks.
“In the past, people spent a long time making their rockets, but now few do that and opt to buy a rocket instead,” Mr Souksakhone said. Thus he abused my preconceptions of men spending hours in arduous toil to meticulously assemble what is in effect a giant pipe stuffed with gunpowder.
However, this lack of hands-on construction does nothing to detract from the significance of the event and the joy that people derive from taking part in such occasions.

A group of men places their rocket on the launch pad.

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update July 28, 2022)