Thailand Holidays - Songkran (Thai New Year) (Songkran)

Thai Songkran is a holiday appointed by nature The New Year comes in April along with the life-giving streams of the rainy season For a whole decade, starting from the 13th, Thais celebrate the renewal of all living things, the retreat of the heat It's time to sow the rice fields Streams of water from heaven give hope for a rich harvest of the country's main product In 1940, Thailand synchronized the calendar with the Gregorian calendar, taking January 1 as the beginning of the year, but Buddhist lunar months are still counted Songkran is the most long-awaited holiday of harmony with the world, the triumph of the power of water - the juice of life Since April 11, temples in Thailand have been resounding with prayers - khurals Sacred texts help purify the soul, the sound of mantras and musical instruments penetrates the consciousness and scares away evil spirits Then, before the New Year, Thais hold a ritual of burning opponents of Buddhism Lamas - Buddhist priests - visit carefully cleaned dwellings and cleanse their inhabitants and the houses themselves from insidious demons In the courtyards of temples, pyramids - chedis - are erected from sand They symbolize the axis of the earth - Mount Meru In Buddhist cosmology, under this mountain there is hell, above it there are tiers of the sky, and on the cardinal points there are earthly continents According to old customs, Songkran is a day of showing love for neighbors and respect for family values The morning of the New Year began with a visit to the temple The monks were given homemade sweets in gratitude for their instructions Returning home, the first thing they did was wash the Buddha statues in the home altar with fragrant water, pour water on the hands of elderly relatives, and give gifts to their elders Then followed a ritual dinner, the leftovers of which, along with coins and unburned candles, were thrown out in a deserted place and they ran away without turning around, so as not to bring evil spirits into the house To please the numerous tourists, the holiday became a noisy carnival Water - a symbol of mutual blessing - is now poured not from bowls and special jugs for purification, but from plastic water guns and pumps The pavements do not dry out for several days Cars loaded with barrels of clean fresh water drive through the streets Children and adults laugh, but politely, pour water on the backs and shoulders of those they meet With shouts of "Happy New Year!" celebrants smear the cheeks of passers-by with white clay powder or colored talcum powder These signs of divine favor cannot be wiped away The talc should fall off on its own A turtle released on Songkran is widely believed to give its savior bonus years to life This is how the traditions of ancient Siam and modern Thailand are intertwined