Thai ritual in living colour Devotees throng Gurney Drive to set adrift their lotus-shaped vessels

HUNDREDS of krathong of various colours and sizes illuminated the sea off Gurney Drive in Penang as devotees gathered along the shore to watch them slowly drift away during the culmination of the Thai Loy Krathong Festival.

The event, which is celebrated annually during the full moon of the 12th lunar month in the Thai calendar, symbolises the ‘washing away’ of bad luck and cleansing of a person’s sins for a good year ahead.