Songkran Water Festival
Trip Start
Nov 08, 2006
1
168
214
Trip End
Ongoing
Bangkok,
Thailand
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The biggest Thai holiday is their Thai New Year called Songkran, or astrological passage. But it's not just a one-night party like our New Year. It's a long 3 to 5 day celebration during which they hold huge water festivals. It falls in mid-April, typically the hottest time of the year, at the end of the dry season. So the water serves as respite from the relentless heat. But the water tradition has more sacred origins. The New Year was a time to purify one's self, wash away the old sin, and start fresh. Buddha statues would be ritually bathed in scented water, and families engage in a sort of Spring cleaning and blessing of their home. Individuals also pay respect to their elders by pouring water over their shoulders
Lindsey Heading Out
. While these solemn rituals are still a part of Songkran, during the last few decades, the festivities have also evolved into something much more rambunctious. People take to the streets and douse each other with water. It started with water hoses and buckets of water, and more recently water guns have been introduced. Families stand outside their homes and spray passers-by, or groups load up into the backs of trucks with tubs of water and drive around like marauders looking for dry victims. Certain streets are designated as party central and are closed off to traffic, allowing pedestrians to take over and turn into a water war. Khao San Road is the main hang-out. So this is where we headed for our first Songkran experience. It was insane. Everyone was armed with super-soakers or at the very least a pop-top bottle of water, which can be refilled by the ubiquitous water vendors lining the sidewalks. And everyone is fair game. Thai or foreigner, young or old, rich or poor - there is no distinction or discretion. You will get drenched. But it seemed to unify the people. Perfect strangers played together like fun-loving children. It was a blast.
Just for the heck of it, I bought a little water gun...shaped like an elephant. It only held about a cup of water, but it was so corny and cute that I had to have it. It actually did afford me some protection, just having something to shoot back. And filling it with ice water made it even more effective!
Oh, I should also mention the white paste stuff. It was just about as prevalent as the water. It's a white chalky powder they mix with water into a paste and then smear on each other's faces
Songkran
. Most Thais I asked had no idea how this got started. Some suggested maybe as protection from the sun. But I read that, like the water, it is derived from more sacred ritual. Monks use white chalk to bless people and objects. Over doorways or above the dashboard of cars, they often paint a series of white dots in the shape of a triangle that I assume is supposed to be reminiscent of a stupa. So anyway, I think the white powder serves the same purpose as the water - to purify, bless, and protect. And it's messy and fun. Nearly as many people have bowls of it as have water guns. So as you walk down the street, it's a constant cycle of hands smearing paste all over your face, then water guns pelting you with jets of water, which eventually wash the paste from eyes, and then the process starts all over again. You're not supposed to purposefully wash the paste off. That's bad luck to wash away your spiritual protection. So people walk around caked in it until they get a good dousing.It was all loads of fun and a great cultural experience - reminding us that we do indeed live in an exotic and interesting place.
