Ting Krachaat Festival

One of the major Chinese festivals held during the year is “ting krachaat”. It is not restricted to a particular day but it has to take place before the start of “Sart Chin” which this year is in late August. I attended the annual Ting Krachaat Festival at The Ruam Kuson Foundation in Taiban. It is difficult to translate the name of this festival into English. However, “krachaat” is a kind of wicker basket or large container. The word “ting” means “to empty”. So, I guess you could translate this as the “Emptying of the Wicker Basket Festival”. In reality it is a kind of Chinese Philanthropy Festival. Local Chinese business people and private individuals donated a large amount of money to buy several hundred tons of rice and other food to be distributed to the poor people in the district.