Village festivals of Chiang Mai, Ban Patan (Pratan)
There is not a single month without a festival in the area of Chiang Mai.
The major trend at the moment is that the smaller villages have their own festivals, with a walking street, lots of food, traditional dances and of course a live band and some fair amount of local whisky consumtion. From Baan Tawai, to Bo Sang and Muangkung to Baan Patan. It seems that every village in Chiang Mai is engaged in some kind of handicraft production and therefore promotes its own festival.
My favorite from last year is the festival in Ban Pratan. It was held between September 11-13 in the area where they make the charming garden dolls in Chiang Mai. Hopefully, this year there will be another festival. I didn´t know that all these dolls seem to me made in more or less the same place in Chiang Mai.
Me and my wife were driving on the main road between Hang Dong and Chiang Mai (108) and suddenly we saw this huge sign. Another festival taking place. How to keep track of all of these festivals I thought? Luckily though, we decided to have a look. When we drove in through the narrow soi, we didn’t feel like we were in Chiang Mai at all. In a few minutes the noise of the big city was exchanged to the sounds of a countryside village. With my pocket camera I took a snapshot of one of the ladies making and selling clay dolls. It took her only 20 minute to make one doll! I wasn’t sure as of why I took the picture.
Later Jan told me;
- Well look at her face and then look at the dolls she is making. That is the explanation to why you took the picture.It was a great local festival. The street was extremely long and there were clay and stone dolls exhibited outside every house, all the way up to the local temple.The villagers said that the village can be visited any day of the year, but since its still fairly unknown. Most shop keepers sell their products to the flower markets and to the Ban Tawai-handicraft area for retail. Now they hope that more people will find their way here, and this was only the start of a new festival tradition.- Where then is Ban Patan?
When you drive on road 108 from Chiang Mai Central Airport towards Hang Dong, look to left just before the traffic light, where you turn right to go to the Night Safari and the flower expo, there you can see a big doll and a sign that welcomes you to Ban Patan.
© Text and Photo: Per Sundberg
