Boon Bang Fai (บุญบั้งไฟ, บุณบั้งไฟ), also known as Bong Fai (บ้องไฟ) and often referred to simply as Bang Fai (บั้งไฟ), is the name for the annual Rocket Festival, and is celebrated exuberantly in many parts of Isaan, i.e. Northeast Thailand, and in a few places in the North. It marks the ending of the Hot Season and the beginning of the Wet Monsoon as well as the start of the rice planting season. The tradition has its roots in Thai mythology, where it is said that there are mythological snakes called nagas, that dwell in the skies where they create the rains. In Isaan, legend has it that Phraya Thaen, the angel of the waters, ordered the nagas to play in Lake Anohdaad, a place in the heavenly Himaphan Forest, so that water spilled down to the human earth as rain, the primary natural source of water. However, in the hot and dry season it is thought the nagas fell asleep, hence no rain is falling on earth. People in Isaan therefore launch makeshift bamboo-rockets into the sky, in order to wake up the nagas, so they can once again send down the rains needed for nourishing their crops. These rockets are made from up to 10 meter large bamboo containers, known as bong (บ้อง). Whereas bong literally means ‘a cut off section of a bamboo stem’ and stand at the etymological meaning behind one of the Thai names of the festival, bang (บั้ง) similarly means ‘to cut off’ and is derived from it. The name bong fai or bang fai may hence be translated as ‘bamboo fire cylinder’, even though nowadays often PVC pipes attached to a bamboo pole are used instead. These cylinders, are filled with din prasiw (ดินประสิว), i.e. nitre (saltpetre) and charcoal, with the amount used depending on the type of rocket. There are namely three types, i.e. Bang Fai Kilo (บั้งไฟกิโล), which contains one kilogram of nitre, Bang Fai Meun (บั้งไฟหมื่น), which is filled with 12 kilograms of nitre, and Bang Fai Saen (บั้งไฟแสน‎), the largest rocket, with 120 kilograms of nitre. Veteran specialists calculate the proper proportion of nitre and charcoal, so that the rocket will be launched smoothly, without exploding on the ground. During the festival, the rockets first join in a parade and were originally launched from wooden racks in a large field, though the larger ones are launched from tall metal structures that look like derricks. Nowadays the rockets that are actually launched are much more simple in form than those that join the parade, which are replicas made in a more traditional form. Teams of villagers compete with each other in making the most beautifully decorated rockets and floats may spend months doing so. They are decorated with Thai traditional patterns in gold and include nagas, as well as other figures related to rain-begging legends. Some of these self-made rockets propel up to several thousand meters high, with some going up straight, while others screw, twist or spin. Traditionally, the entire rocket crew of any rocket that misfires, or which is not launched successfully, will be thrown into a mud pool. The ceremony is held during the sixth lunar month, as part of the hihd sip song (ฮีตสิบสอง), i.e. the ‘customs or traditions of the twelve months’, and is celebrated the most exuberantly in the Isaan provinces of Yasothon and Roi Et, where this video was filmed, in the vicinity of the Buddhist temple Wat Don Phrachan (วัดดอนพระจันทร์), in the district of Phanom Phrai, where on 15 June 2022 more than 2,000 rockets were launched on a single day. 回