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Songkran is a Thai
traditional New Year which starts on April
13 every year and lasts for 3 days. Songkran
festival on April 13 is Maha Songkran Day or
the day to mark the end of the old year,
April 14 is Wan Nao which is the day after
and April 15 is Wan Thaloeng Sok which the
New Year begins. At this time, people from
the rural areas who are working in the city
usually return home to celebrate the
festival. Thus, when the time come, Bangkok
temporarily turns into a deserted city.
Songkran is a Thai
word which means "move" or "change place" as
it is the day when the sun changes its
position in the zodiac. It is also known as
the "Water Festival" as people believe that
water will wash away bad luck.
The Songkran tradition
is recognized as a valuable custom for the
Thai community, society and religions. The
value for family is to provide the
opportunity for family members to gather in
order to express their respects to the
elders by pouring scented water onto the
hands of their parents and grandparents and
to present them gifts including making
merits to dedicate the result to their
ancestors. The elders in return wish the
youngsters good luck and prosperity.
The values for
community is to provide the opportunity to
create unity in the community such as to
jointly acquire merits, to meet each other
and to enjoy the entertaining events. And
for the society value is to create concern
upon environment with cooperation such as to
clean houses, temples, public places and
official buildings. Thais value the religion
bye means of merits acquisition, offerings
alms to monks, Dhamma Practice, listening to
sermon and monks-bathing.
In the afternoon,
after performing a bathing rite for Buddha
images and the monks, the celebrants both
young and old, joyfully splash water oon
each other. The most-talked about
celebration takes place in the northern
province of Chiang Mai where Songkran is
celebrated from April 13 to 15. During this
period, people from all parts of the country
flock there to enjoy the water festival, to
watch the Miss Songkran Contest and the
beautiful parades. |
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