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Festival

Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festivalบุญบั้งไฟ

Isaan villages fire homemade black-powder rockets several kilometres into the sky to demand rain

Next
Date varies
Where
Yasothon, Roi Et, Suwannaphum, Nong Khai, Ubon Ratchathani
Public holiday
No
Alcohol sales
Normal

In short

Bun Bang Fai is the sixth rite of the Isaan year, held just before the monsoon should break. Village teams spend months building PVC-and-black-powder rockets, parade them through town with dancers and bawdy costume, then launch them from towers on the final day. Yasothon runs the largest and most organised version; dozens of other towns across the north-east hold their own through May.

Farmland in Phu Ruea district, Loei province in Isaan: rough grass and rows of young maize in the foreground, broadleaf trees standing along the field edges and a long forested hill on the horizon under heavy white cloud.
Christophe95 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Go if

  • The Saturday parade, which is the better half — costume, mor lam music and genuinely rude humour
  • Anyone who wants to see amateur rocketry taken extremely seriously
  • Combining with Ubon Ratchathani, two hours south-east

Be aware

  • Rockets fail, and failures come down. Stay behind the marked lines and follow the crowd's lead
  • Launch day involves very heavy drinking; the losing teams are traditionally thrown in mud
  • Yasothon has limited hotel stock and the town fills. Book from March or stay in Ubon or Roi Et
  • Early May is brutally hot in Isaan — often 38–40°C with no shade at the launch site

Dates

Yasothon holds its festival on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the second weekend in May. Elsewhere in Isaan and in Laos the rite is held at village discretion through May and into early June, before the rains.

  • 8–10 May 2026Phaya Thaen Park, Yasothon. Parade on the Saturday, launches on the Sunday.

Sources

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