Songkran Event: Celebrating Thai New Year with Fun and Traditions

Running Head: Festivals and Events
SONGKRAN EVENT

Festivals and Events 1
Introduction:
Songkran event is the most famous festival of Thailand. The festival is also
recognised as Thai New Year and is generally organised in the month of April. It is
one of the grandest events of Thailand which is celebrated to welcome New Year
with fun filled entertainments. The Songkran day is generally celebrated on 13th April
which is the date of New Year in Thailand and usually the celebration of Songkran
lasts for 3 to 10 days. This festival is celebrated across the country but the grandest
celebrations are organised in the Thai city named Chiang Mai. During this festival the
families and friends pay their elders a deep gratitude and also they offer prayers at
the temples. On this festival the people of Thailand use water that is mixed with Thai
aroma, to pour on the images of Buddha to cleanse them. This festival basically
represents a bathing ritual in which water is poured on Senior Buddhist monks by the
Thai people. This ritual is carried by them with the belief that it brings a streak of luck
for them. Also, grand processions of images of Buddha are paraded on the streets of
Thailand. Various kinds of fun filled entertainment activities are organised during this
festival such as beauty contests and carnivals. People slash water everywhere with
the belief that it will bring rainfall in abundance in the forthcoming year and therefore
it is also known as water festival of Thailand (Asia News Monitor, 2010).
History of Songkran Festival:
The Songkran festival has derived its name from a Sanskrit word Songkran which
has a literally means to move into. This meaning specifically implies the moving of
the sun, moon and various other planets into the zodiacal orbits (Renard, 1999). The
festival falls in Aries and it signifies the new era of New Year in Thailand. The word

Festivals and Events 2
Songkran mainly emphasises on transformation. The basic point about the word
transformation is significant because, symbolically, water festival of Thailand wipes
away people’s troubles and stress that belonged to the previous year and offers
them an opportunity to take up things from a fresh start by changing their paths in
the upcoming year. The exact history of how and when people began to celebrate
Songkran festival is not actually known but it has been derived from the Hinduism
traditions and is generally believed to be thousand years old (Chadchaidee, 2014).
The core history of the traditions of the festival emerged from the devotions and
blessings of the monks of Buddhism religion. Over the last twenty years Songkran
festival has turned to a water festival where people splash water everywhere to bring
divinity in their lives (Agarwal, 2013).
Literature review:
As per Clair & Hocking (2004), the grand songkran festival is renowned for its
prosperous traditions. It is one of the most important and famous cultural event.
According to TAT (2014), Thailand is selected as the most common tourist
destination particularly during its festive season when Songkran is celebrated at the
grand scale. According to Ming Tsai (2016), the word Songkran implies to the
movement where the Sun enters into the first zodiac sign i.e. Aries. The festival is
also recognised as the Thailand’s water festival among the foreigners and is enjoyed
a colourful cultural event by the various generations of the Thailand. The practice of
splashing water everywhere on the streets of Thailand is undertaken with the belief
that it will bring plenty of rain in the forthcoming year for the season of rice
plantations. The festival is celebrated in the long holiday period of Thailand which is
granted to the Thai people to allow them to enjoy the New Year of Thailand.

Festivals and Events 3
Suksawat & Eastman (n.d.) suggests that the people of Thailand sprinkles scented
water to the images and idols of Buddha to express their devotion. Further as per
Sakulsinlapakorn (2016). People clean their homes during this festive season with
the belief that it will wipe away the bad luck from their lives and will bring good luck
with the New Year. In the morning of the Songkran day the monks would walk
around the streets holding alm’s bowls in their hands so that people can keep food in
those bowls and such food would directly go to the temples. Songkran festival is
considered as the happiest and joy filled festival which is full of peace, fun,
generosity and warmth.
Discipline:
Songkran festival is a national cultural activity of Thailand and is celebrated in the
welcome of Thai New year with the belief that such celebration will wash away all the
bad luck of previous year and will bring good luck in the forthcoming year (Kislenko,
2004). It is a globally recognised event and hence it attracts tourism in huge amounts
to the country leading to its economic development (Siviroj, Peltzer, Pengpid &
Morarit, 2012).
Principles of sustainability social-cultural, economic and environmental:
The principle of environmental sustainability suggests that only such events that
contribute positively to the environment must be organised. The environmental
principle of sustainability is hurt by the typical bathing and water splashing rituals of
Songkran festival as water is the precious resource of environment and it is severely
wasted merely for the sake of showing devotions towards god. Further, the principle
of social-cultural sustainability suggests that those events and festivals must be