Bangkok: Luscious greens, egg-yolk yellows and delicate oranges flickered across waterways in the Thai capital Bangkok, as virtual projections of the Loy Krathong festival's traditional offerings reduced waste at the popular event.
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The annual festival, celebrated on Monday, sees millions ask forgiveness from the river diety Khongkha by releasing colourful floats into waters across Thailand under a full moon.
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In recent years environmentalists have expressed concern as Bangkok's already clogged waterways are increasingly choked by the plastic and foliage "krathongs", as the offerings are known.
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To combat this, a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) initiative took a fresh approach to the centuries-old tradition.
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Rather than floating the elaborately constructed offerings - which include leaves, flowers, plastic, candles, incense sticks and sometimes coins - people were asked to create digital krathong.
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After colouring-in drawings of krathong on paper, or on their phones, attendees' sketches were scanned and then projected onto the city's Ong Ang Canal.
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"The tradition still remains. But we must integrate the festival to be up-to-date, in order to create less impact and less pollution on nature," attendee Chainarong Tumapha, 27, told AFP.
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The BMA said about 3,700 images were projected across the nighttime waters. "We can see that it's getting a lot of attention, especially among young people," Bangkok official Pornphrom Vikitsreth told AFP.
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But the numbers were dwarfed by Bangkokians choosing to release the more traditional floats, with officials saying that more 600,000 were removed from the city's waters.
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The BMA said polystyrene usage was down three percent from last year, with the vast majority of offerings made from natural materials.
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As people cast off their floats, tugs and small vessels bobbed in the Chao Phraya River, with workers scooping krathongs from the choppy waters.
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The collected material will be sorted, with biodegradable elements turned into compost and plastic sent to landfill.
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Near the Icon Siam luxury mall, where the krathongs were guided into the Chao Phraya by golden-painted slides, revellers enjoyed a more traditional celebration.
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"If we don't continue [Loy Krathong], our children and grandchildren will not see this," said 57-year-old Tanaporn Karueksom.
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