Songkran

[The Quill]

After a bit of looking I found a few things about Songkran that others may be interested to know:

HEADS UP.

In the Songkran parade, the most important place is reserved for

Nang Songkran [songkran Princess]. Each year is represented by one of seven

Nang Songkran, the daughters of Khabil Phrom, one of the heavenly gods of

the Hindu-influenced Thai cosmology. Each of the seven daughters is

associated with a flower, a diet, and an animal – her mount during the

Songkran parade. Tradition has it that the position in which Nang Songkran

appears on her mount, indicates the time of the day that the New Year

actually begins.

According to legend, Khabil Phrom came down from the skies to ask

Thambarn – a prodigious young man who could speak the language of the birds

– three riddles. If Thambarn succeeded in giving correct answers, the god

promised him his head as offering, but if Thambarn could not give correct

answers, the god would cut off Thambarn’s head.

Thambarn asked for seven days to think out the answers. After six

days had elapsed, an anxious Thambarn went to lie down under a palmyra palm

tree where he overheard a mother eagle telling her young about a previous

bet Khabil Phrom had waged – and won – with another mortal. Thambarn then

learnt the correct answers to the god’s questions; consequently on the next

day the god lost the bet.

Thambarn summoned his seven daughters to prepare a tray for his head

and instructed them to carry it to a cave in the heavens – for if his head

were to touch the earth, there would be a universal conflagration, and if it

fell into the sea, the waters would dry up. The eldest daughter carried her

fathers head around Mount Meru, the Buddhist center of the universe, and

then kept it in Mount Krailat. Each year, another daughter takes her turn in

carrying the god’s head round Mount Sumeru, a myth that’s re-enacted in the

annual Songkran pageants.

[The Quill]

For Songkran Newbies-

It’s the hottest and wettest time of year, if you’re brave enough

to venture out onto the streets. This month’s Songkran Festival (April 13-15

nationwide) is the Thai equivalent of the Georgian calendar’s December 31

New Year. But the similarities end there: this is a whole new bucket of icy

cold water.

Songkran, is Sanskrit meaning ‘to pass’ or ‘to move into, and is the first of a three-day series celebrating the change of the solar calendar. The dates are

calculated by astrologers, set according to the position of the sun in

relation to the 12 segments of the heavens. When the sun passes from the

sign of Taurus to the sign of Aries, the New Year begins.

Traditionally, Thai farmers are between seasons this time of the

year, waiting for the rain to come before beginning ploughing for a new

crop. The coming of the New Year marks downtime for celebration and

merit-making in anticipation of the – hopefully productive – rice-planting

season ahead.

Songkran observance begins early, with alms given to passing monks.

In Buddhist Thailand, most daily customs and practices involve some form of

merit making, but none to the extent of Songkran.

Later in the day, visits to older relatives and friends are made by

the young. A simple ceremony of pouring lustral or scented water on the

hands of elders – and Buddha images – signifies the purification of the

soul, thus making a fresh start. In more traditional homes, the elders are

sometimes bathed in scented water and given new clothes.

Some of the people make merit by releasing fish and birds. As April

falls in the middle of the hottest time of the year, the ponds and canals

dry out, leaving the fish stranded in small pools of water. People gather

stranded fish and keep them in jars of water until Songkran Day, when they

take them to the nearest river to release them, a gesture that symbolizes

the regeneration of life.

In the old days, as Songkran Day approached, Chinese vendors could

be heard about the city calling ‘fish to free’. More often, these days,

vendors offer caged birds to free… for a fee.

After the monks have received alms, the fish released and the

lustral waters poured – in short, all the filial and collective duties

observed – the water fights begin!

Water jars are set in strategic positions – a favorite spot is at

the corner of a busy thoroughfare. As people pass by in their spring finery,

dipperfuls, bucketfuls or sometimes tanks of water large enough to irrigate

deserts, are thrown at them. This is usually taken in good humor because the

thrower’s usually greeted with a reprise bucketful. The practice probably

originated with the belief that a few drops of water poured back into the

soil would ensure plentiful rainfall for the next crop.

As part of the water sprinkling/splashing, you’ll inevitably

encounter a person with a white powder or pasty substance and a zeal to

apply it to your face, neck or torso. This is one of the oldest Songkran

traditions, tying the ceremony to its Hindu roots in powder throwing

ceremonies. The white paste is a sign of protection and promises to ward off

evil. One is expected to leave this paste on until it washes off of its own

accord.

There’s always a chance to reciprocate with water and powder, so

long as you can locate a source yourself. But, don’t feel like a Scrooge if

you’re not buying the sanuk [fun] factor: you’re not the only one.

Traditionalists – in fact, just about any Thai over 35 – will wax melancholy

for the ‘kinder gentler’ Sonkran of yesterday, when participants would

bashfully flick droplets of water on each other rather than resorting to

all-out drench warfare.

Songkran April 13-15 nationwide. Info and full schedule on Tourism

Authority of Thailand News Room (www.tatnews.org)