Sakon Nakhon's Star Festival shines light on Christians
The Tha Rae area is home to the largest baptised community and Christmas celebrations attract visitors from all over the region. This year there will also be a sacred play accompanied by boats on the lake. A statue of St Michael, modelled on the one in Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, has just arrived from Italy for the cathedral.
Bangkok (AsiaNews) - If there is a place that is a symbol of Thai Catholicism, it is the city of Sakon Nakhon, and above all the area of Tha Rae, on the opposite shore of Lake Nong Han. According to a story that has been handed down, in November 1884, 35 families, partly of Vietnamese and partly Laotian origin, arrived at the lake, led by the French missionary Xavier Guego. They were looking for a place to found a new community and, after asking for the protection of St Michael, they set out in makeshift boats to sail into the winds, which carried them to the forested shore where Tha Rae stands today.
The structure of the town - which mixes contemporary buildings with architecture inspired by the French colonial style and areas showing Vietnamese and Chinese architectural and decorative styles - justifies the growing popularity of the locality and the commitment of the local authorities to promote tourism. Of the 14,000 inhabitants, 95% are Christians, making it the largest baptised community in the country, but Christmas celebrations are attended by all the tribes and ethnic groups in the area.
What characterises Christmas in Tha Rae are the star-shaped decorations and the multi-coloured lanterns of the same design. Hence the Star Festival, which has been held for decades between 21 and 25 December with religious services as well as processions, performances and an open-air market. This year there will also be a further original initiative on the evening of the 22nd: a parade of boats on the lake, decorated with luminous stars and accompanied by a sacred performance. It will also be an opportunity to greet another element of pride for the local community, represented by a marble statue of the archangel Michael, which arrived from Italy on 3 December and is placed in the cathedral dedicated to him.
Produced by a Tuscan company, the work was inspired by the sculpture of the same name on top of Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome and financed by the generosity of local benefactors. It is precisely this "desire to share good with others" - confirmed by Fr Joseph Surasak Phongphit, parish priest of the cathedral, interviewed by the Bangkok Post newspaper - that identifies the Tha Rae community where, in a Buddhist country, "Christianity permeates every aspect of life".
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14/09/2009
