Travel Destinations: Thailand and Songkran

Thailand is known as a tropical destination for some and a site seeing destination for others. One of the most unique times to visit Thailand is during the festival known as Songkran. This New Year’s celebration usually takes place in the middle of April and lasts for three to ten days.

Songkran: New Year’s Celebration
Because this is the New Year’s celebration as the sun moves into Aries, the Thai people take the opportunity to clean their homes, their Buddha statues, and their streets. This festival celebrates the coming spring and it is also a time when farmers have been relieved of hard work and they have time to offer respect to the elders and ancestors.

Water Fight Takes Center Stage
Songkran has gone through many different shifts over the centuries and the festival has now become a world-wide sensation. People from all over the globe travel to Thailand to participate in the cleansing of the streets, the people, and anything else that can get wet. Songkran has truly turned into the world’s largest water fight.

Biggest Events in Chiang Mai
In Chiang Mai (the northern capitol), the celebration is like no other. The locals are commonly found throwing buckets of water at on-coming traffic, spraying pedestrians with their water hoses, and dowsing pedestrians from moving cars. Young children will use water guns to spray anyone who comes near. Travelers are often amazed at the buckets and buckets of water that are thrown from everywhere at everyone.

Most people who Chiang Mai during Songkran are not disappointed in the celebration. The temperature in this part of Thailand is incredibly hot, so the splashes of water offer relief from the excessive heat.

Symbolism of Throwing and Sprinkling Water
Visitors should remember that the water throwing is truly symbolic as the people of Thailand symbolically clean dirt and grime from the old year and make way for the New Year. Even though Thailand officially celebrates the New Year on January 1 like the Western World, they still use the astronomically based Songkran as a way to cleansing and reflecting on the previous years and welcome in the new.

Other Traditions of Songkran
In Chiang Mai and other parts of Thailand, there will not just be people throwing water and having fun, but it is very common to see locals sprinkling flower-scented water on their Buddha statues. Families who are cleansing the Buddha will do so while wearing traditional Thai costumes and wearing leis made of Jasmine.

Young people will gently sprinkle water on their elders as a sign of respect. This tradition is different from the water-throwing show that happens during the celebration in Chiang Mai. These young people will also say prayers and good wishes to their elders.

Some people will also use a chalky white paste to ward off evil spirits. They will wear the paste on their faces or neck and then place some on people they encounter. The paste will not stain clothing and it is proper to accept this from a local Thai elder.

Feasts are also very common during Songkran and many people will even place delicious looking food at temples. The food should not be taken from the temples, but left for the monks.