In mid-May, as the rainy season begins in Laos and northeast Thailand, local people for centuries have fired rockets into the sky to beseech the sky god for plentiful precipitation and, thus, good crops and a bountiful harvest. The timing is also just right for a bit of partying before the hard work of planting and farming begins again.

Folklore and legends surround this ancient festival, which some suggest is designed to make the gods angry so they’ll retaliate with thunderstorms. Whatever its origins, today it’s as much an excuse for a bang-up good time.

This year’s festivities take place May 8–10. Friday and Saturday are filled with parades of rockets on decorated ox-carts and elaborate floats, folk dance, theater and music on traditional instruments. Sunday brings the launching of Bang Fai skyrockets, judged for height and distance traveled and for the beauty of their vapor trails. Rockets are traditionally made of bamboo (larger ones are now often reinforced with PVC piping) and packed with up to 250 pounds of black powder, all balanced on bamboo launching towers.

Where to take part in this three-day festival? You’ll find Bun Bang Fai celebrations throughout Laos and the Nong Khai and Yasothon provinces of Thailand. The Laotian capital, Vientiane, hosts a large festival, but many feel the celebrations in smaller surrounding villages — Nason, Natham, Thongmang, Kern, Pakhanhoung — are more fun.

Wherever you find it, Bun Bang Fai is rife with phallic symbolism and comic cross-dressing, none of it very subtle, and all fueled by copious consumption of local beer and lao-lao (rice whiskey). The parades and performances create an atmosphere of bawdy burlesque with an infectious vibe, and locals welcome anyone who is willing to join in the party’s good-natured spirit.

The festival is not without its hazards, which include enjoying too much of a good thing — in this case, the surprisingly powerful effects of lao-lao. But more serious is the inherent danger of large quantities of black powder in the hands of amateurs in varied states of inebriation. Rockets misfire, and their direction is difficult to control. Both participants and spectators have been injured, even killed, as happened when one of the larger rockets exploded just after firing in 1999. So a safe distance from the actual launch positions is wise. But there are two days of parades, dance, singing and exotic food to revel in before the big bang.