Updates: Songkran

Songkran is celebrated every year from 13th to 16th April. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand, thereafter the 1st April, only adopting the 1st January after 1940. However, Songkran remains the most popular public holiday.
Songkran is a Thai word which means 'move' or 'change place' as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac, marking the beginning of a new year.

Traditionally, people go to a Wat (temple) to pray, make merit and give food to monks. They also perform a bathing rite and clean Buddha images in temples with water and a gentle Thai perfume, as it is believed that this will bring good luck and prosperity for the New Year. In many towns, the Buddha statues from all of the Wats in the city are paraded through the streets so that people can wash them as they pass by. People carry handfuls of sand to their temple to in order to recompense the dirt that they carry away on their feet during the rest of the year. The sand is then piled into large, tiered piles and decorated with colorful flags. Later in the day, people also do community services. Some people make New Year resolutions - to refrain from bad behaviour and to do more good things. Songkran is a time for cleaning and renewal. Many Thais take this opportunity to give their home a thorough cleaning

Nowadays, the emphasis is placed on fun and water-throwing (believing that water will wash away bad luck) rather than on the festival's spiritual and religious aspects, which sometimes prompts complaints from traditionalists. In recent years there have been calls to moderate the festival as there are many road accidents and injuries attributed to some extreme behavior - water being thrown in the faces of travelling motorcyclists.

The throwing water part was originated as a way to pay respect to people, by pouring a small amount of lustral water on other people’s hands. They also splash each other with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days). This has changed to water fights and splashing water to people on vehicles, a hallmark of Songkran as tourists know, as Thais assimilate more western cultures and technologies

Despite being warned by colleagues not to venture into the mayhem that is Songkran, I couldn't resist and just had to experience it first hand. There must have been hundreds of pickup trucks. Each one had several barrels of water on the back and usually a dozen or so people armed to the teeth with plastic water guns and buckets. Other groups of people were just dancing on the street waiting to pounce on us as we walked past. There was no avoiding it … we just had to join in and get wet.

Another ritual is to smear flour paste on each check. It was nice to see that this is still practised in todays more 'distanced' society. It proved to be quite an intimate contact with locals. I quite enjoyed the good natured crossing of barriers between strangers – just reaching out and touching. Quite refreshing really, considering how in the world we live we must all be strangers and build a wall around ourselves to preserve our safety. However, unfortunately, this has also escalated into dumping buckets of flour and dye over people and cars, getting quite out of hand sometimes. Only wear clothes you don't mind throwing away!

Tomorrow I plan to go with Nina (Armenian/Ukranian friend) to a temple to see the traditional celebrations. I will let you know how it goes :-)

check out the video...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1pfdg_songkran