Thais celebrate full-scale Songkran after Covid hiatus
13 Apr 2023 07:39pm
The Songkran holiday this year is from April 13 to 17, and the celebration brings back the joy and liveliness of the festivity that had been dampened by restrictions on social activities.
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The Songkran holiday this year is from April 13 to 17, and the celebration brings back the joy and liveliness of the festivity that had been dampened by restrictions on social activities.
Khaosan Road in Bangkok was buzzing at noon today as thousands of revellers, wearing floral shirts and wielding colourful water guns, thronged the popular backpacker district for water fights to celebrate Songkran.
As a part of traditional Thai culture, it is customary to welcome the new year by splashing water on each other as a cleansing ritual to wash away sins and bad luck, with the belief that this will bring good fortune and blessings for the year ahead.
Dubbed as the world’s biggest water fight, the yearly Songkran draws thousands of tourists from around the world to celebrate the festival.
"This is my first time celebrating Songkran. Despite having lived in Bangkok for three years, I have not had the opportunity to witness the festivity in person until now. I had so much fun,” Shona Griffiths from England told Bernama.
In addition to water fights, locals also celebrate Songkran by visiting temples to perform a bathing ritual for Buddha statues. During this ritual, scented water is poured over the statues to symbolically wash away bad deeds from the past year.
Besides that, young family members pour water over the hands and feet of their elders to show respect.
The Songkran festival this year saw many taking the opportunity to travel back to their home provinces for the long-weekend holiday to celebrate with their family members.
To add another element to Songkran celebration this year, leading international hip-hop music festival ‘Rolling Loud’ will stage its first-ever concert in Asia - at Legend Siam in Pattaya on April 13-15.
Supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the three-day ‘Rolling Loud Thailand 2023’ will be headlined by Travis Scott, Cardi B, and Chris Brown, and feature other big names including Malaysian hip-hop maestro Johan Ishak a.k.a. Joe Flizzow, Thai rapper MILLI, Taiwanese rapper and producer J. Sheon and American rapper Blueface. -Bernama
