Thailand Lantern Festival

Revelers in northern Thailand have been asked not to launch lanterns into the sky near airports to avoid airborne accidents during a popular festival this week, airport officials said on Tuesday.

Every year when the moon is full and the rainy season draws to an end, Thailand's waterways fill with millions of floating lotus-shaped lanterns - a symbolic, centuries-old gesture once meant to placate the country's goddess of water.

Revelers in northern Thailand have been asked not to launch lanterns into the sky near airports to avoid airborne accidents during a popular festival this week, airport officials said on Tuesday.

Every year when the moon is full and the rainy season draws to an end, Thailand's waterways fill with millions of floating lotus-shaped lanterns - a symbolic, centuries-old gesture once meant to placate the country's goddess of water.