Each year in November, Surin Province in Northeastern Thailand hosts one of Thailand’s most unique festivals. The Surin Elephant Round-Up, or Surin Elephant Festival celebrates the special history and connection that Thai people have with these amazing animals.
Usually, the event is organized during the third week of November on the weekend. The festival has its origins in the royal hunts which were conducted in Surin Province during medieval times. The indigenous residents of Surin, the Kuy, have been traditional practitioners of corralling elephants and training them as working animals. When the Ayutthaya Kingdom came into power these hunts were converted into a public extravaganza and wild elephants were replaced with tame ones. The festival, in its contemporary form, was first organized in the 1960s when the civil war in Cambodia and the steady decline in the economic value of elephants forced the elephant handlers (mahouts) to seek occupations in the entertainment and tourism industry.
The modern two-day event includes a variety of shows displaying the physical prowess and skill of the animals, such as soccer games and tugs of war with the Royal Thai Army. Elephants painting pictures, playing polo, and whirling hula hoops on their trunks are also incorporated into the show. Numerous floats are put on display. The venue for the event, Si Narong Stadium, has been dubbed the “world’s largest domestic elephant village” by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
On Friday morning, a marching procession of approximately 300 elephants starts moving through Surin city from the railway station toward the elephant roundabout on Prasat Road in the southernmost neighborhood of the city.
The elephants carry dignitaries who dismount their steeds on arrival. Some elephants carry mahouts in authentic replicas of battle outfits from the Thai–Khmer–Laos battles. Intermingled with the elephant procession are students of local schools and their teachers in traditional dress, who are dancing and playing music.
Once all the elephants have arrived, the banquet begins. The tables for the banquet measure 400 meters in length and are customarily decorated with traditional silk cloth.
The food is presented before the elephants; leftovers are taken home by the local people. On 14 November 2003, the buffet set a Guinness World Record for “largest elephant buffet” when 269 Asian elephants came together to devour over 50 tonnes of fruit and vegetables. In 2015, the Surin Elephant Festival once again set a record with 67,650 kg of fruit and vegetables to feed 250 elephants.
The Surin Elephant Festival attracts thousands of visitors from far and wide every year. Besides, the festival also has a good meaning, contributing to the propagation of elephants, a friendly and useful animal for humans and raising awareness of protecting elephants.
According to en.wikipedia.org and itsbetterinthailand.com
