Tha Rae Village

Tha Rae sits on the eastern shore of Nong Han, Thailand’s largest natural lake, 21 kilometres from Sakon Nakhon town along Highway 22 toward Nakhon Phanom. It holds the largest Catholic community in the country — around 2,200 households descended from roughly 20 Vietnamese Christian families who crossed the lake in 1884, fleeing persecution under French missionary Father Xavier Guego. Every 24 December the village turns the tradition into one of Isan’s most distinctive festivals: close to 200 illuminated star floats parading through streets more reminiscent of a French provincial town than a Buddhist-majority province.

The community’s layout gives it away immediately. Streets run in a tight grid the locals compare to squares of cheese, lined with plastered, shuttered houses built in a French colonial style rarely seen this far from Bangkok’s old trading quarters. At the centre stands St. Michael’s Cathedral, seat of the Catholic Diocese of Thare and Nonseng — worth stepping inside even outside festival season, for the quiet and the mix of Vietnamese, Isan and European detailing in its interior.

Insider Tip: Skip the main event and come the night before, on 23 December — the star floats are already lit for final checks, the crowds are a fraction of Christmas Eve’s, and vendors are still setting up rather than packed three-deep.

The Christmas Star Festival itself runs 20-24 December, built around the belief that the star recalls the one that guided the Magi to Bethlehem. Each household mounts its own illuminated star outside the house, wired with coloured lights and sometimes motorised parts telling small scenes from the nativity story. On the final night, floats process along the main road while choirs sing carols in Thai and Latin and stalls sell food into the small hours — the Tourism Authority of Thailand named it a Signature Event in 2025, and it now draws visitors well beyond the local Catholic diaspora.

Outside festival week, Tha Rae is a slower visit: a walk down the main street to see the architecture, a stop at the cathedral, then on to the lake for the sunset the fishing boats come in by. There’s no entrance fee anywhere in the village. Bring cash for the food stalls if you’re here in December, and expect the single road in from the highway to crawl with traffic on the 24th — arrive on foot or by songthaew from the edge of town rather than trying to park near the cathedral.

For the lake the village looks out over, see Nong Han; for the province’s holiest temple back in town, see Wat Phra That Choeng Chum. Full area guide at Sakon Nakhon.