Also called Thai New Year, Rod Nam Dam Hua, Song Nam Phra, Maha Songkran
Songkran is the Thai New Year in mid-April, when water is poured to wash away the old year's bad luck. At its heart is Rod Nam Dam Hua, gently pouring scented water over the hands of elders, who bless the younger family in return.
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Take care: Songkran is a living Buddhist and family festival, so take part as a guest: pour water gently, never on monks, and ask before splashing anyone. Use clean water, never ice water or anything with dye or chemicals, and take care on wet roads, which see many accidents during the holiday.
Buddha images in temples, homes and even shopping malls are gently bathed with the same jasmine-scented water. It is done slowly and reverently, pouring over the image's body rather than splashing.
Uses: Scented water, Small Buddha image or temple image
People carry sand into temple grounds and build small stupas, decorated with flags. The sand replaces what worshippers carried out on their feet during the year and is later used for temple building. The Ayutthaya court formed royal sand stupas and paraded them to temples.
Uses: Sand, Small paper flags
Along the eastern coast, the celebration flows on after the national holiday, moving from Bang Saen to Pattaya and on to Sattahip and Rayong, with water play and sand stupas lasting toward the end of April.
The name comes from the Sanskrit sankranti, the passage of the sun into a new sign of the zodiac; Songkran marks its entry into Aries. The festival traditionally runs over three days from 13 April. It was Thailand's official New Year until 1888, and the Thai cabinet fixed the holiday dates in 1989. In the reign of King Borommakot of Ayutthaya (1733 to 1758), court chronicles describe sand stupas, the sprinkling of Buddha images and food offerings to monks.
A folk Buddhist story tells of a time when people stopped honouring their elders and the rains failed, until a farmer and his companions restored good conduct by washing their elders' feet and serving them. The household rite of pouring water over elders' hands grows from that same idea of respect. The famous street water fights are a modern public form of the old cleansing. UNESCO added Songkran in Thailand to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 6 December 2023.
The household customs of the Lunar New Year that sweep out the old year's bad luck and welcome the new: cleaning before the day, hiding the broom on it, red couplets at the door, the fu character hung upside down, a reunion dinner and red envelopes.
On the full moon of the twelfth Thai lunar month, usually in November, people float small decorated baskets called krathong on rivers and ponds. The candle honours the Buddha and thanks the water goddess, and letting the basket drift away carries off anger, bad luck and the year's wrongs.
Holi is the Hindu spring festival of colours on the full moon of Phalguna, usually in March. On the eve, a bonfire called Holika Dahan burns away evil in memory of young Prahlada's rescue from the fire; the next day people throw coloured powder and water, forgive old quarrels and welcome spring.
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