Songkran. Thailand celebrates its traditional New Year. Celebrate with us!

Happy New Year 2566: Songkran, wet and wild and full of tradition.

Every year from April 13th to 15th, Thailand celebrates its traditional New Year, the Songkran Festival. Songkran is a vibrant and lively celebration. It is a time for Thais to come together with their families and communities to welcome the new year and pay respect to their traditions and cultural heritage with modern elements.

Welcome to the year 2566! What? Yes. In Thailand we are a bit further in the future, as the Thai calendar is based on the Buddhist calendar, that is believed to have started in 543 BCE. So yes, the clocks in Thailand tick some 543 years earlier. ;)

Originally the word Songkran comes from the Sanskrit. Our ancestors observed the celestial bodies to recognize the seasons by the known signs of the zodiac. Because it was a matter of survival to know when the rainy season was beginning, they named it as the most important annual event when the sun enters the constellation of Aries, “saṃkrānti” or “astrological passage”.

From this derived the word Songkran: The arrival of the rainy season starts a new year in Thailand.

Water is poured over the hands of elders as a sign of respect and appreciation.

The Songkran Ceremonies

Traditional Songkran has a deep spiritual background, it’s a time for Thais to pay respect to their elders, wash their houses, pour water at statues of the Buddha, and make merit by making donations to the temple or participating in religious ceremonies.

All ceremonies have in common a form of pouring water as a symbol of purification. With the water we symbolically free ourselves from all the bad that the last year has brought, simply everything that has dragged us down we give the water with. And with the clean, the pure, the cherishing we free ourselves again to welcome the good and the blessings of the New Year.

You see, the pouring or splashing of water is actually a wish to yourself and others for happiness and blessings in the New Year.

It was traditionally a more quiet ceremony at home, where the elderly, the grandparents are thanked and – maybe because it is also quite hot on this time of year – as a sign of respect and appreciation a little bit of water is poured or sprayed over their hands. To give them a little cooling and asking for their blessings for the New Year.

Well, you could say Songkran has evolved a bit:

As it is the case everywhere in the world, when grandma and grandpa have retreated to the cooler rooms of the house to rest. What just has to happen? Right, in the heat of the day the youth cannot leave the remaining water unused. Instead, they refresh and “wash each others bad luck away”. A real fun way to start the New Year.

From calm, ritually indicated washings it developed into the wild water battles of today’s Songkran. Thailand celebrates nowadays with lively and colorful parades, and a greater emphasis on the water-throwing.

In the countryside, even elephants are helping to bless and wash the bad luck of the old year away. The Songkran festival of the wet and wild variety.

The Songkran Festival of today

Today, Thailand celebrates the New Year by scooping water from large buckets with cups and throwing it at everyone who walks or drives by. Recently, water guns and even elephants have been used for this purpose. It’s a fun and exciting time of the year, as people of all ages participate in the water-throwing, and the streets are filled with laughter and joy, with really happy people!

In the north of Thailand, people also like to mix a little flour into the water. Just don’t wonder about it, as little as we wonder about the tomato fights in Spain. It’s just the way it is.

It wouldn’t be Thailand if the tourists weren’t allowed to join in. And the tourists don’t ask twice. There are streets in towns and cities where people meet and from which no one comes out dry. Here you have to join in if you want or not. But don’t you worry, everywhere you can buy small, big or even monstrous water sprayers for a small price, so that everyone can give the best wishes back.

Everyone should know: if you are in Thailand between April 13 and 15, you will visit the biggest open-air water gun party in the world!

What should you consider in Songkran?

If you don’t want to participate, if you really hate a water fight, you’d better not leave your hotel room. There is no guarantee that you won’t get watered on the way. Normally it is so hot that after the short shock you will be grateful for the cooling. So celebrate with us.

Who participates: Since you are more or less the whole day on the street and act there, a decent sunscreen – not washable – is highly recommended. Also note that being completely wet and air-conditioned is often not a good combination. So rather eat in the small street restaurants without air-con, for example.

And on a serious note: when all the people party for three days, alcohol is often consumed and will regularly lead to serious accidents on the roads. So be double careful on the roads especially in the evening and at night and better use public transport where possible.

So nothing can stand in your way for a quite unique experience: the Thai New Year, the Songkran festival.

You want to see a bit of Songkran?

Ok, here is a video of Ivan Dedicatoria, who wonderfully captured the mood, the fun and the battles of a whole Songkran day in the streets of Bangkok. This is exactly how it’s like:

As a final tip:

The next morning, you can simply have your sore laugh muscles massaged away at an on-site Thai massage. And you’ll be fit again for the next day at the biggest and wettest hot New Year’s party in April.