Songkran: Water Purification & Thai New Year

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Every country and every people celebrates its own New Year in their own way, but everyone agrees that first of all you need to get rid of all the worries and misadventures of the old year. For this, the Italians throw furniture out of the window, the Russians see off the Old Year with a glass of vodka, the Japanese banish old worries with the strikes of a bell, and Thais chose the most natural way: they wash away the past with streams water … Therefore, the Thai New Year (" Songkran"), which was celebrated just a couple of days ago, April 13 is not only a calendar holiday, but also the day of the nationwide cleansing with water.

Songkran - This is an ancient holiday, whose name means "transition" - after all, at this time the seasons change. Tradition pour water on each other at this holiday - very old, in the old days it was a sign that the rainy season is coming, and a call to nature to irrigate rice fields with rain as soon as possible and more abundantly. And now the inhabitants of Thailand - almost entirely Buddhists - perceive the nationwide dousing with water as a ritual cleansing from sins … Therefore, they are poured without sparing water!

On this crazy day, no one is safe from a basin of cold water poured over the collar, or from a sudden shot from around the corner … from a water pistol. It is immediately evident that the heartbreaking photos of Thomas Kaunekas, in which water pistols symbolize the problem of water starvation, do not touch the heart of a simple Thai. Especially young people: after all, pouring water on the streets is a fun and active game.

In addition, during Songkrana Thais sprinkle each other with talc, or smear with white clay - also a kind of "cleansing" (after which you have to wash again). In general, of course, residents of tourist regions show particular zeal in observing traditions, water purification and other features of the national New Year. They know that traditions and interesting holidays are the capital of a tourist country like Thailand. Pouring water over the tourists from water cannons, pistols and simple bowls, Thais cleverly calculate the profit from the event … Of course, this is a joke. Actually water purification - it's just fun, and that's why Songkran remains one of the favorite holidays in Thailand, somewhat similar to European carnivals.