The main vessel in the festival is known as the Hintha Barge (fig.), while some of the other vessels also have a figurehead in the form of a hintha bird (fig.).

The flotilla then sets off for a procession around Inle Lake (fig.), stopping at all the main villages, to allow the local residents to worship and make merit.

As the main Hintha Barge goes around the lake, it is accompanied by a number of lesser barges and other boats, escorting this local kuh bahn kuh meuang.

The Intha people, the ethnic group that lives in the numerous villages on and around Inle Lake, and who are famous for their floating garden agriculture (fig.) as well as for their unique leg-rowing style (fig.), paddle these vessels.

For the occasion, they wear their traditional costume, which features an orangey-salmon to beige, oversized pair of trousers, somewhere between a sarong and a pair of culottes, similar to Thai fisherman pants, known in Thai as kaangkaeng le (fig.).