Information from The Tourism Authority of Thailand
by Steve Van Beek

Find out more information about Songkran at
http://www.tourismthailand.org/

The Real Meaning of Songkran

It's April 13, the middle of Thailand's hot season. As the fiery sun beats down, what could be more refreshing than to have someone sprinkle cold water over you? Or to be the target of a water pistol, a rivulet from a water hose? How about buckets of ice water dumped over you, even if your enthusiasm wanes after the tenth bucket? Water throwing is the popular image of Songkran among foreigners but to the Thai, the holiday is more than that.

Songkran is the traditional Thai new year. A Sanskrit word meaning "move into", the name denotes the passage of the sun from Pisces into Aries, completing one 12-month cycle and marking the entry to a new solar year.

By ancient tradition, the holiday is observed as a time of thanksgiving for acts of kindness one has received, and as a reaffirmation of familial and communal bonds. It is also a time of spiritual renewal, a spring cleaning of the house and of one's soul, wiping clean the slate to begin the new year afresh.

The strength of these bonds is evident in the effort which Thais make to observe them. Many Thai laborers receive only one long holiday per year, the four days of Songkran. Public transportation is strained to the limits as city-based Thais rush home to their villages to share the holiday festivities with their families.

Six ancient values are celebrated at Songkran. "Thanksgiving" honors those who have shown one goodwill. One demonstrates his or her recognition of their kindness by pouring lustral (water blessed by Buddhist monks) on Buddha images, elders, and respected individuals.

For the second value, one honors the contributions of one's ancestors by performing good deeds towards others, "merit-making" as the Thais call it. Worshipers release fish into the rivers and ponds and free birds from cages as an act of merit-making.

One acknowledges the third cultural value of responsibility towards family and home, by thoroughly cleaning one's house.

"Respect for religion" is both for the roles of the Buddhist monks and for the community they serve. One joins with friends to clean the temples, donate food to monks, bathe Buddha images, sprinkle water over monks, and beautify the temple compound.

The fifth value involves acknowledging ones debt to friends for their good deeds. Friends exchange food and sprinkle water to cool each other. Finally, one celebrates the spirit of communal cooperation by participating in community activities, sharing the holiday with others, and spreading happiness and goodwill all around.

The central element of Songkran is water. As in most societies, water is a potent symbol of abundance, fertility, purity, and spiritual cleansing; ritualistic bathing figures in Thai rites of passage and ceremonies throughout his or her life. Like the other principal Thai holiday, Loy Krathong-also water-based-one washes away accumulated bad luck from the previous year. Thus, unlike the Western New Year which obliges one to vow to improve themselves beginning on January 1, the Thais clean their spiritual house, as it were, twice each year.

Songkran celebrations run for three days. April 13 is dedicated to sending off the old year. In the morning, Thais stand by the roadside to give alms to passing monks. In the afternoon, the town's principal Buddha images are carried in a grand procession through the streets while spectators toss small bowls of water on them to clean them.

In Bangkok, that image is the Phra Buddha Sihing, the kingdom's second most important image after the Emerald Buddha. It is reverentially conveyed from its normal resting place in the Buddhaisawan Temple (now part of the National Museum) to Thonburi and through Bangkok's old royal city before being placed in the elliptical Sanam Luang, the sacred ground next to Wat Phra Kaew. There, thousands of ordinary devotees ritually bathe it throughout the remainder of the day.

On April 14, as the sun enters a new house, Thais offer food to monks in the morning and then the day of fun begins. The tradition of tossing water derives from an antique Indian rite to ensure a healthy rainfall. The holiday reached Thailand via Burma in the eleventh century.

There are two myths. One tale involves seven nak (nagas), the mythical serpents-dragons, if you will-who are water symbols. They live in the sky and on Songkran, they have the task of tossing water at each other to determine how much rain will fall in the coming monsoon season. Contrary to expectation, the fewer the nak, the better, since they will spend less time playing and more on doing the job of delivering rain to earth and ensuring a bountiful rice harvest.

The other involves a riddle solved by a seven-year-old boy, the result of which, a god was obliged to sever his own head, which is carried around each year by his seven daughters-one for each day of the week-lest it fall to the ground and parch the land.

In the evening, sand carried to the temples is heaped into small chedis (stupas) and decorated with colorful flags and flowers. The practice reflects an ancient belief that when one walks away from a temple, particles of sand from the temple grounds are inadvertently carried away on one's shoes. Building chedis is a practical way of replacing the lost sand lost, and an act of merit-making through which blessings are earned.

Many northern temple compounds hold tall bho trees, the tree under which Buddha is said to have meditated to reach enlightenment. In the Mai Kham Bho Procession, devotees place wooden poles beneath heavy branches to support their weight, an act of goodwill for the blessings the tree has bestowed.

April 15 is essentially a continuation of previous celebrations, augmented by the pouring of lustral water to pay respect to ancestors who have passed on, thanking them for their contributions to ones life.

Songkran in Phra Padaeng, just south of Bangkok, is historically associated with its Mon residents who carried the traditions of Burma with them when they migrated to Thailand eons ago. As a result, while Songkran is celebrated in similar fashion to the Thai holiday, its observance occurs a week later on April 20-22.

Overseas, one can join in Songkran celebrations in major cities with large concentrations of Thais such as Paris, Sydney, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Taiwan.