Ring in the New Year Wet and Wild – Thailand’s Songkran Festival Kicks Off on April 13

By MOOK Travel Life Network, Chen Guanxin, compiled and reported

 

Thailand’s Songkran Festival, also known as the traditional Thai New Year, will take place from April 13 to 15 this year. Celebrations will be held in Bangkok’s Khao San Road, Chiang Mai’s Old City, Ayutthaya, Phuket, and other locations, as people prepare to pray for good fortune in the new year during Thailand’s hottest April.

The Thai word “Songkran” originates from the Sanskrit word meaning “to pass into,” referring to moving into a new astrological phase and starting a new year. For Thai people, Songkran (also known as the Songkran Festival) is the most joyous traditional New Year celebration of the year. During this long holiday, many city dwellers return to their hometowns to reunite with family, while fun-loving young people splash water on one another to collect a year’s worth of good luck.

 

During the celebrations, in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai, the entire Old City and surrounding roads are drenched in water, with eye-catching parades and trucks packed with people armed with water guns spraying water at other vehicles and pedestrians, causing major traffic jams. At Bangkok’s Khao San Road, beloved by backpackers worldwide, the area becomes a splash zone where young Thais and foreigners douse each other with water. Smiling strangers drench you with water and flour, leaving you soaked and covered in mess. In Ayutthaya, food is offered to monks who come begging alms. Water is poured over the hands of elders to wish them good health, and in accordance with tradition, Buddha statues are bathed, people purify themselves, wear traditional attire, enjoy traditional parades, and savor traditional foods.

In Pattaya and Phuket, there are activities such as offering alms to monks, pouring water on Buddha statues for blessings, and building sand pagodas—all aimed at praying for a great start to the new year. Locals also pour scented water over the hands of elders to bless them with health. The festivities include bartender competitions, motorcycle parades, various music performances, and opportunities to sample local cuisine. In Sukhothai, there are sand pagoda building competitions, Songkran beauty pageants, and parades of vintage carts. Meanwhile, in Khon Kaen, the city center’s Sichan Road is closed to vehicles during Songkran, turning the area into a giant water-fighting playground. Local youths celebrate with enthusiastic water fights, flour throwing, dancing, eating, and drinking. For more details, visit: www.tattpe.org.tw.

 

 

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