Every year in start April, Thailand and its neighbor countries Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia celebrates the start of the solar year which is called Songkran in Thai. The celebration takes place all over the country and the most beautiful is in the north part of Thailand in the city of Chiang Mai.
From the religious aspect the holiday is celebrated in the temples and from the national aspect in the cities streets. The holiday evening is dedicated to house cleaning and throwing old unnecessary staff; according to the religion such objects can bring bad luck. During the holiday, the celebrators arrive to the nearest temple wearing their best cloths. They bring offerings and holiday’s traditional food to Buddha.
The believers hold a religious ceremony of washing the saint Buddha statue. An integral part of the holiday events are street parades with dancing and music groups. One of the known effects of the celebration is the habit to splash water on each other.
The celebrators splash water on every one familiar or not so if you happened to be there, take into consideration becoming totally wet. You can’t stay indifferent or dry in this fiesta. This is an unforgettable experience.
What a great welcome we had opening our trip to Thailand
We arrived to Bangkok at night and went to bed very late, in the morning we heard the sound of laughter of many people. We looked out of the window and could not believe, dozens of people splashing water on each other and everyone is happy and celebrating.
We went down the street and did not understand how we drifted to celebrate, we forgot that we had a sleepless night. When we spoke with another couple from the U.S they explained to us that these are Songkran celebrations.
It’s unbelievable what a great welcome we had opening our trip to Thailand.