Songkran Celebration

travelbud.com

I have told you that my son and I are stocking up so that we don’t have to be out in the water fights that are an integral part of the Songkran celebration each year. I will watch out my window to see if I can see any of the ‘action,’ with water guns, waterproof bags and water glasses (goggles) being sold everywhere, plus humongous trash bins that will be filled and refilled with water as the festivities go on, so that people can “reload.”

What I want to tell you now is the real reason for the celebration above and beyond the fun of the water flying everywhere.

“Songkran celebrates the traditional Thai New Year from April 13-15 (sometimes stretching into the 17th) marking the sun’s passage into Aries. It symbolizes purification, renewal, and starting fresh by washing away bad luck, illness, or negative energy from the previous year. Key traditions involve cleaning homes, visiting temples, offering food to monks, and pouring water over Buddha statues and elders’ hands for blessings.” 

The simple paragraph above embodies the beauty of the Thai people. A new year in Thailand is more than dousing everyone with water (though it has been hot and dry for a while now. Thai people are washing away all the negativity of the year past – cleaning their homes and businesses, washing away the sad things that happened, the losses, and preparing with optimism for the beginning of a new, bright, shining year, full of hope for a beautiful, successful year for everyone. The feeling of celebration permeates everything with lots of smiles, laughter, fun –

Farmers are getting ready to start new crops. New businesses are opening. Buildings are being renovated or built from scratch. A time to spend three days of the year being as carefree as a child, throwing off the weight of responsibility for a short time and preparing to work hard again when the festivities end.

This is, to my eyes, a beautiful, joyful way to welcome a new year. Even though I personally choose not to take the chance of being sprayed and losing my precarious balance in the street, I celebrate the chance these wonderful people have to fully enjoy themselves.