Another well-known purpose is to show their gratitude to the Goddess of the Water on their plentiful use of water and ask for forgiveness in the ensuing pollution. Moreover, many people believe that floating the beautiful Krathong away also refers to flying away misfortune and bad things in the past and asking for good luck in the future.
In the past, people in Lanna Kingdom in the north of Thailand also show respect to rivers, but they use fire instead. They float a lantern like a hot-air balloon in the sky which is called Yee Peng. And now we still can find this celebration in Chiang Mai.