Songkran

Songkran สงกรานต์

On April 13th, 2000, the Thai new-year was celebrated.
Songkran was the Thai new year and also the start of the rainy season.

Normally, people visit Buddhist temples during Songkran or sprinkle clean/scented water over statues of Buddha. Younger people also pour water on the hands of elderly relatives and friends to show their respect and ask for blessings in the coming year.

But an other side of Songkran, is people (mostly foreigners) throwing water with buckets at passers-by. Mostly this water is stored in big storage tanks with ice in them. Others use high-pressure pumps or water hoses. Also, most people have talk powder with them and smear it on the face of passers-by.


Needless to say that this is very dangerous and every year, Songkran counts for hundred of deaths and near a million people injured. In 2018, 679 people died from accidents in the 3 days of Songkran.

I didn't like the water splashing and avoided it as much as possible, but I got splashed with a bucked of water anyway and as a result of that my phone was destroyed.

A few years later, in Korat, my wife wanted to celebrate Songkran, and we went to the city to watch everybody enjoying the water splashing. I didn't want to be part of the water splashing and went for a walk at the city park (Yamoo).

As I was walking trough the park with my daughter, a woman with her son walked towards us. The son was about 10 years old and was apparently mentally disabled.

When they crossed us, the woman asked me if her son would be allowed to wish my daughter Songkran blessings. I asked my daughter, and she was OK with that.

The little boy took his bottle of water, poured some water on my daughter's wrists and some talk powder on her face. After that, he did the same thing with me and after asking if it was OK, we gave him our Songkran blessings.

The REAL meaning of Songkran without the need to pour a bucket of ice water or a high pressure pump on innocent passers-by.

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