Songkran Festival Celebrated throughout Thailand

(12/04/2012)

Thai people are celebrating the Songkran Festival, the traditional Thai New Year, with many joyous activities. It is the country’s merriest festival and is widely observed across the nation. Although this festival of entertaining and socializing covers one week or more in some rural areas, the highlight of the festival is between April 13 and 15. On this occasion, young people pour lustral water onto the palms of their elders as a gesture of respect and present them with gifts. In return, the elders give their blessings to them. It is a time when Thais splash water over friends and other people to give them a New Year blessing. The fact that April is the hottest month of the year makes the blessings very welcome. There is also a deeper meaning in the practice of water-throwing, which is done to ensure that there will be an abundance of rain for the coming rice-planting season. The celebration also features a thorough house cleaning, sprinkling of Buddha images with scented water, merit-making ceremonies, the release of caged birds and fish, pilgrimages to holy shrines, parades, dancing, and traditional Thai games. Songkran is an occasion for family reunions, as well, when all the family members get together again. So it is the time of love and care within the family. As for the community, Songkran provides an opportunity to strengthen the spirit of solidarity and cooperation among the community members. Many foreigners find Songkran a great time to visit Thailand to experience distinctive cultural activities in a delightful atmosphere. During the festival, people perform a religious ceremony in memory of their ancestors. Many of them go to the temple and heap up sand into mounds in temple compounds, as they believe that bringing sand to a temple is considered a great merit. This tradition is popularly practiced in northern Thailand. In most parts of the country, such as Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Hat Yai, Songkran is celebrated on a wide scale with many tourists joining. Often referred to as the “Water Festival” among foreigners, this festival is celebrated not only in Thailand and Thai communities overseas, but also in neighboring countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and southern China. Nobody knows exactly when and where the Songkran Festival began. It is believed that Thailand adopted this traditional practice from India. The word “Songkran” means passage of transition, which heralds the moving of the sun into the sign of Aries. In Thailand, this time of the year comes after the rice harvest, when farmers are free from hard labor in the field. So it is a good time for joyous celebrations to greet the coming year. As people travel around the country for Songkran celebrations, the Government has launched a campaign to ensure road safety and reduce road accidents and the death toll during the festival.