Thai New Year, A Celebration Like No Other

Thailand’s sultry summer months begin in mid-March, it’s hot, and Thai New Year or “Songkran” during 13-16 April this year is one of the biggest festivals in the Thai calendar.

The Thai word for fun is “sanuk”and Songkran is sanuk in so many ways. The entire country is on the move to reunite families, making merit at temples, offering alms to monks, taking part in processions and much playful splashing of water to cool down and celebrate the New Year, 2562 in the Buddhist calendar.

While Songkran is celebrated across Thailand, there are nuances specific to regions and even villages, beauty pageants, traditional music concerts, puppet performances and more. Local and visitors alike are all welcome wherever you are, with these 3 Songkran hotspots highly recommended.

Chiang Mai…The Total
Tradition of Songkran

Chiang Mai – traditionally Thailand’s ‘second city’ – is the former capital of the Lanna Kingdom (‘Land of a million rice fields’). Songkran tends to be celebrated longer (6 days) in the North than in other parts of Thailand. Local people celebrate Songkran in traditional Lanna style. It is often referred to in Chiang Mai as “Paveni Pi Mai” (meaning, ‘the tradition of new year’). The Buddhist religion is a focus for many traditional events. From dawn to dusk, after alms-giving ceremonies, other merit making traditions such as sand pagoda building are engaged in. There’s a grand procession carrying the Phra Buddha Sihing, Chiang Mai’s most revered Buddha image, to the temple Wat Phra Singh. People pour scented water on the statue, which, they believe, brings them prosperity. Later, every afternoon, the fun of the modern day Songkran aqua-battle gets into full swing around the old town walls & moat. You can never stay dry. It’s the coolest way to celebrate on a hot day!

Khon Kaen Songkran...Celebration and
a World Record!

Khon Kaen is at the heartland of Thailand’s largest region, the Northeast, known as “Isan”. You’ll be captivated by the Isan style Songkran which locals call “Dok Khoon Siang Khaen” Festival. Dok Khoon is a flower name, and Siang Khaen is a musical instrument unique to the region – cleverly blending Khon Kaen’s symbols into the unique festive celebration. The main Songkran celebration venue in Khon Kaen is Khao Niew Road. There’s a wonderful parade of beautiful floral floats, a Songkran beauty pageant and numerous other festivities. A famous highlight of Thai New Year in Khon Kaen is its Human Wave celebration at Khao Niew Road. The Guinness Book of World Records recorded a ‘Wave’ made by 50,209 people in 2011. It has become a tradition attracting greater numbers of participants every year – in 2016 over 60,000 took part in Khon Kaen’s alcohol-free Human Wave.

A Capital Songkran Festival
in Bangkok

During the festive celebration, if you’re visiting Bangkok, there’s an array of cultural festivities happening in the streets and in the city’s temples. The Thai capital hosts a ‘full-on’ Songkran celebration befitting its status. It has all the traditional events like a Buddha Image procession and floral float parades, alms-giving ceremonies, and building of sand stupas decorated with flowers and flags. To enjoy the exuberant fun of a capital water fight at Bangkok’s Songkran celebration, it’s best to head to either Silom Road or Khoa San Road. They are temporarily closed to traffic from noon to midnight during Songkran. At Silom especially, the entire 5-kilometer street is filled with thousands of people packing water guns for the aqua-battle. Khoa San Road – the backpackers’ district -- a fairly busy road on normal days, becomes impassable when Songkran arrives. Locals and travelers become fully engaged in a totally wet celebration of the Thai New Year!

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