The Candle Festival is a festival held to mark the start of the green (or wet) season and usually takes place during Asahna Bucha and Khao Phansa days, two important Buddhist events that celebrate respectively Buddha’s first sermon and the beginning of Khao Pansa or Buddhist Lent which lasts for three months.

The Candle Festival is celebrated in several places in Thailand, but the most famous – and popular – spot is Ubon Ratchathani, a major city in the Isaan region of Thailand, some 500km northeast of the Thai capital Bangkok. It is one of the kingdom’s oldest festivals attracting thousands of people every year, of which the vast majority are Thai people coming from all over the country.

One of the festival’s biggest highlights is the candle float parade through town on the morning of Khao Phansa day, accompanied by large groups of Thai girls and boys in traditional dress who perform Thai dance and music. In preparation for the festival, skilled artisans – both monks and laymen – use candles as the basic material to create incredible waxwork structures depicting scenes and figures from Buddhist mythology, following the tradition of Buddhist art.

The festival’s climax is the international sculpting competition on Asahna Buchna day in Thung Si Muang Park in the town’s centre. Both local and international teams make large wax candle sculptures which can reach up to 20 metres in height and are decorated with Thai patterns and scenes from the Ramayana and other epics. They are exhibited throughout the evening while that same night there will be small processions with burning candles at different temples throughout town.

In previous editions, foreign artists have participated in the festival, including from South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Taiwan, Romania, Turkey, Germany, Argentina and other countries. 

According to travelbeginsat40.com AND Wikipedia.