Laos - Boun Fai

The Rocket Festival ບຸນບັ້ງໄຟ Bun Bang Fai.

The festival typically begins at the beginning of the rainy season, during the sixth or seventh lunar month.

The party begins with the musical performances and dances, parades of floats on the second day and culminates on the third with contests of firing homemade rockets.

I bought this postcard during my visit to Vientiane, the capital of Laos (12th - 15th January 2025). The stamp was cancelled at the Post Office (HQ) in Vientiane. All the postcards from Laos during this trip (except two Luang Prabang postcards) were brought home myself.

The Rocket Festival (Thai: ประเพณีบุญบั้งไฟ, romanized: Prapheni Bun Bang Fai, Lao: ບຸນບັ້ງໄຟ, romanized: Bun Bang Fai) is a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced by ethnic Lao people at the beginning of the wet season in various villages and municipalities in Northeastern Thailand and Laos. The festivities typically include music and dance performances, competitive processions of floats, dancers, and musicians on the second day, and the competitive firing of homemade rockets on the third day. Local participants and sponsors take advantage of the occasion to enhance their social prestige, as is customary at traditional Buddhist folk festivals throughout Southeast Asia (read further).

Note : Laos Post Office do not have variety of stamp(s). The cost for international postcard is Kip40,000.00. The Post Office only have Kip2,500.00 which value was upgraded (by red marking the stamp) to Kip40,000.00 on February 2024.