FABULOUS PARALOLS

A fascinating, interesting event to put in your itinerary this month: Chiang Mai’s ‘Borsang Umbrella Festival’

     FOR more than 200 years,the villagers of Borsang in Chiang Mai have been earning their livelihood through umbrella making.The village actually produces a it is the Borsang umbrellas that gave it the fame it is now enjoying worldwide.

     Borsang umbrellas are noted for their exquisite design and decorations, and they make wonderful souvenirs and gifts.Usually made from bamboo and “saa” (mulberry) paper, they are quite beautiful and dainty, many prefer to call them parasols.Each umbrella --- orparasol – is delicately hand painted, and some are truly works of art, refleting the high quality of the village artisans.

     It has been said that the art of Borsang umbrella-making has been a skill handed down the generations through a smail number of families in the village. But no one knows of families in the village. But no one know for sure—or rather nobody can really authoritatively tell—where this particular art originated and how Borsang came to be the center of umbrella-making.
There was,however,a legend about a Buddhist monk who went on a pilgrimage to Sipsong Panna (now forming a part of the Yunnan Province in China), learned about the art and brought it back with himon his return to Lanna (as the kingdom was called before Siam assimilated it). Others say the art was brought into Thailand years ago by a monk after a pilgrimage to Burma.
Borsang umbrellas are made by creating a bamboo handle with spokes that support a top usually made of saa paper, a Northern Thailand specialty. Since  saa production is long and arduous. Many umbrella makers are now using silk, organza, and cotton instead to create the umbrella covers. The covers are then handpainted with portraits of birds, flowers, or whatever the artists fancy at the moment.
     The fanciful,gaily painted Borsang umbrellas have become a favorite choice of  foreign shoppers looking for keepsakes and gifts; they are available in all the Thai arts and crafts stores all over the kingdom.
     Borsang umbrellas have in fact something of symbol for Chiang Mia and have helped it Mai become a big torist draw Chiang Mai today is know as the center of Thai arts and crafts production and shopping.
     During the 1996 SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Borsang Village created the world’s largest umbrella, which is now recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. This record has enhanced further not only the reputation of Borsang as the “Umbrella Village” but also of Chiang Mai as the shopping hub for Thai arts and crafts.
Every year, the village takes time out from its daily schedule of producing the fabulous parasols to show them off in a festival that has become one of Chiang Mai’s most popular event – the  “Borsang Umbrella Festival.”
It takes place every January – double check with your travel agent or hotel for the exact date – and features an umbrella procession, beauty contests, exhibitions, and the selling of umbrellas and other handicrafts on the main street. Visitors will get an extra thrill watching the umbrellas being made before they take them home as souvenirs.
     Borsang is situated along the Sankampaeng Road where it meets the Doi Saket Road about 10 kms out of Chiang Mai town.