These are said t0 pay respect to the buddha and to thank the mother of river for providing water for our lives. Some believe that the lai heua fai procession is an act to pay respect to nagas that lives in the river while other send the lighted boats down the river to ask for blessing and to float bad luck and the past year away enabling the good luck for flow in most town with a river bank nearby will engage in this lovely ceremony. In bigger town there are also procession of lighted boats and the ceremony is more popular especially among young romantic couple. Villager who live far from river set up model boats (made of banana stems) demorated with flowers and candlelight while other simply light up some candles in front of their houses ane do their little prayer widhing for good luck. This colorful rituals have been carried on by lao people thousands of year