Songkhran: The Water Splashing Festival

Many countries have a water-splashing festival. From India to Sri Lanka to Myanmar and Cambodia, people gather together to give thanks for the return of the rain which will help them grow their rice and keep their families fed and healthy. In Thailand, this festival is known as Songkhran and it is being celebrated on April 13th to 15th this year.

Across the Kingdom, people have been returning to their home towns so that they can spend time together with their families. People will follow traditional celebrations by making merit in wats, offering food and daily items to monks and paying respects to older members of the family, like parents and grandparents, by giving them new clothes and pouring fragrant water on their hands. A festive atmosphere engulfs the whole country for the five days of holiday and all major public figures will be found somewhere or other presiding over a celebratory gathering. This traditional mid-summer break marks the New Year as people look forward to the harvests to come and give respect to the Lord Buddha and the spirits that permit their lives to continue.

These days, the gentle splashing of water has given way among many young people to large scale shooting of water jets from the back of pickup trucks and water fights in public areas. The hot weather and the wet, festive atmosphere encourage many young (and not so young) men to become licentious and women participating in public parties put themselves at risk of being pinched in private places. In the past, Songkhran was a time when young people were able to mix with some minimal supervision with a view to finding potential spouses. People take more liberties these days.

This year, the drought that has affected the majority of the country is leading authorities to consider placing constraints on the use (or misuse) of water by people. In tourist areas, the water-splashing activities can rather get out of hand, with chunks of ice, water-filled balloons and water mixed with different types of powder leading not just to public nuisance but also to occasional injury.

The rush to get out of Bangkok means that the previous weekend is a dangerous time to be on the roads and the festival itself inevitably witnesses widespread drunken driving throughout the whole country. Already more than one hundred people have died in traffic accidents before the Festival even gets underway and many more will die or be injured before it is all over.

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