The Cha-Am Municipality, in cooperation with the community of Sahakham, vendors and business owners around Cha-Am beaches, is hosting a festival to commemorate Prince Narathip Praphanphong from Friday7th to Tuesday 16th October at the Cha-Am beach viewpoint.
Known to Thai people as the Krom Phra Narathip Praphanphong Festival, this event aims to honour the Father of Cha-Am who dedicated himself to urban planning in Cha-Am to develop and modernise the city. Prince Narathip led royal family members and the Thai elite to improve Cha-Am and also appointed the first leader of the Sahakham community as local people in Cha-Am respected him very highly.
The 11th October is the day when the Prince passed away in 1931, the Prince Narathip Festival will feature many Buddhist ceremonies to pay homage to the Father of Cha-Am.
At the statue of Prince Narathip Praphanphong on the Cha-Am beach intersection the opening ceremony is expected to be will be held in in the morning to pay homage to the Prince, presided over by the Mayor of Cha- Am.
After the homage paying ceremony, traditional Thai performance celebrating the life of the Prince, with other performances such as ‘Manorah’ – a stage drama telling the story of a half-bird half-female human –, and a ‘Mae Jah’ folk dance which has long been practiced and passed on by members of Sahakham Community are usual festival activities.
In 2011 the first Prince Narathip Festival was held to remind local people of his great contribution to the city. This event was then officiated as an annual event with 2020 marking the 10th Festival until Covid restrictions meant a stop until this year. A big feature of the Festival will be the presentation, under the auspices of OTOP, the cuisine and handicrafts from the four regions of Thailand.
