Cathy and Gary's South East Asia Travel Pages
SONGKRAN
THAI NEW YEAR
Songkran (Thai New Year) is celebrated every year on April 13 to April 16 and falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season.
The most obvious celebration now of Songkran is the throwing of water. People roam the streets with buckets of water, huge water cannons or even a garden hose, and drench each other and everybody else!
This however, is not the heart of this festival.
Not many young people, realize that their Thai ancestors started this festival to teach their descendants some important things. This festival teaches people to come home to visit their parents, pay respect to them, and usually bring them a small gift.
Parents have given to their children so much and now this is the time for children to show them their appreciation.
People visit their neighbors and pay respect to the elders around the neighborhood. For these reasons Songkran days are also considered the family days and the elderly days. People go to a temple to pray and give food to monks.
They also clean Buddha images in temples with scented water, as it is believed that this will bring good luck and prosperity for the New Year. People also carry handfuls of sand to their temples to recompense the dirt that they carry away on their feet during the rest of the year.
The sand is then piled into large piles and decorated with colorful flags.
Songkran is a time for cleaning and later in the day, people will also do community service. Going to a temple and doing community service teaches people to give, the most basic way to happiness in Buddhism.
Some people make New Year resolutions - to refrain from bad behaviour and to do more good things. Pouring a small amount of scented water on other people’s hands was a way of showing respect.
Many elderly people still celebrate Songkran this way and frown upon the huge water fight it has turned into nowadays.
Be Prepared to Get Soaked!!
Thank you to Kan Win & his friend Simon for allowing me to use their beautiful Photo's.
