A majority of people surveyed do not plan to participate in the Loy Krathong Festival on Friday night, citing Covid-19 concerns, Bangkok Poll reported on Friday morning.
Most were worried the annual full-moon celebration could spark new infection clusters.
The pollsters questioned 1,184 people from Nov 15-17 via telephone, with each respondent allowed to give more than one answer.
Asked if they would take part in the festival, 77.3% said they would not go out to float their krathongs.
About 46% said they did not want to go to crowded places as they were afraid of the spread of Covid-19, and 22% said they no longer attached any importance to the festival.
About 8.5% said they would float their krathongs on the internet.
The pollsters reported that 22.7% of respondents wanted to go out to float their krathongs. Asked why, 16.6% said they wanted to take part in an activity with family members or loved ones; 16.2% wanted to continue the traditional festival; 15.6% wanted to float their krathongs in an apology to the Goddess Ganga, in line with traditional belief.
Loy Krathong is a time when people to offer apologies to the Hindu Goddess Ganga for polluting the rivers and to drive away sins by releasing krathongs onto rivers, canals or ponds.
Asked where they would float their krathongs, 61.1% said in canals near their houses, to avoid crowds; 34.1% would go to temples or public parks which hold the festival; 4.8% said they would celebrate the festival in other provinces.
Asked what they were concerned most about during the festival, 74.4% said new Covid-19 clusters; 14.4% said that organisers might not pay attention to Covid-19 control measures; and 6.4% worried about people drinking alcohol at the festival venues.