Abstract

This is a cultural qualitative research that examines the tien pansa candle festival in Ubon Ratchatani Province, Thailand. The aims of the research were to study the background and appropriate management of the tien pansa candle festival and develop a conservation and management model for public relations in order to promote cultural tourism in the government sector, private sector and communities of Ubon Ratchatani Province. The research results found that the festival is based on the long-standing custom of offering candles as a method of worship. There were found to be six reasons for the strength of the candle festival in Ubon Ratchatani, which were: a) Ubon Ratchatani is a Buddhist city that has more temples than any other city in Thailand; b) the local people are particularly philanthropic and intelligent; c) the city itself was built on the area of dong-oo-peung, which has a number of important resources used in the tien pansa celebration; d) the Ubon Ratchatani people pay special attention and care to the homage of the Buddhist Triple Gems; e) Ubon Ratchatni is home to skilled artisans in all branches of the fine arts; g) the festival adheres to the founding principles of worship and respect, with the intention of promoting the Buddhist religion. Despite this, there are a number of problems with the current management of the festival, not least the shift of emphasis from worship to financial gain and the influence of Western culture and technology. The research concludes that the best solution to these problems is to increase local community participation in the management of the festival.

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