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*NEWS* Photos Must See!
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The Songkran Festival - Thai New Year Songkran,
regarded as Thai traditional New Year, has been an exotic Thai tradition for
generations. Not only Thai people living in Thailand concern the importance of
Songkran, but also people who speak the language which has the same origin as
Thai such as Laotian. Thai people in
Myanmar
who live near the border at the
north of Thailand, and Thai spoken Chinese people in Hunan also celebrate this festival. In
general, “Songkran” is the word popularly used. But the actual word, in
full, is “Troot
Songkran” which will be
described as follows. “Troot”
means “cut” or “separation.”
This refers to the end or the separation of the year. Therefore, “troot”
represents a celebration that the old year is ended and people manage to live
throughout the year. Traditional Thai believes regard April as both the month of
the old year and the New Year. Merit-making on troot days last for 3 days; the
fourteenth day of the fourth waning moon, the fifteenth day of the fourth waning
moon, and the first day of the new moon. Monks are invited to reprove.
Merit-making, food giving is performed, especially to monks. In turn, people get
blessed. It is assumed that Thai people are Buddhism so that they are influenced
by this kind of ceremonies as those in Lang Ka. Songkran
(don’t
mix with Songkrant as this means WAR!) means movement or displacement,
refers to the Sun is moving into the New Year. New year days last from April 13th-15th,
annually. April 13th is called Maha Songkran day. April 14th is called Wan Nao, and April 15th is called the beginning of new year day. These may be called differently in the north from region to region, but still easy to understand. For example, April 13th, called Sungkarnlong day, means the old body, mind and spirits of the old year are leaving. April 14th, called Wan Nao, April 15th, called Wan Paya Wan, means a first important day of the New Year. Many serious revelers can follow the celebrations from region to region. Although the official start is the 13th it does not get big in Pattaya until the 16th and for the next 3 days until the climax on the 19th it is mayhem as you could see from the photos here. The 13th sees revelers in the streets of Chiang Mai but in a more restrained way. Where ever you chose to celebrate it - it's an eye opener.
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