Happy Thai New Year!

Thai New Year Water Throwing Festival
Photo Credit: Absolute Resorts and Hotels

3,2,1....Happy New Year! Wait, what? New Years in the middle of April?

Thailand has its own New Year or Songkran, similar to China having their own, but it's celebrated in April. Instead of changing a new calendar year, Thai people celebrate a cleansing of mind, body and spirit every 13th through the 15th. This national holiday is filled with long standing traditions meant to pay homage to wise elders and visit Buddhist monasteries offering food and prayer to honor the monks.

The theme of Songkran is one that promotes cleansing similar to the western idea of Spring cleaning. Houses, Buddhist temples, statues of Buddha and even people are given a good washing so that the new year begins with a fresh start. The most notorious event throughout the Thai New Year is "water throwing."

The idea of water throwing was that you were paying respect to family and elders by sprinkling water that had been blessed to bring about good fortune in the upcoming year. What started out as a cleansing ritual for family is now an all out neighborhood water fight. Some Thai people use water hoses, while others choose water guns to cleanse whomever comes across their path! Water throwing is a perfect event for the new year because with April comes some of the heat for which Thailand is known.

Every region has their own new year's tradition, and in the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, images of Buddha are collected from all of the cities major monasteries and paraded through the city streets so that people can pour water over them. Also, people visit monasteries with handfuls of sand to replace the sand that was taken away throughout the previous year. Once the sand has been collected, small sand piles are created and decorated with colorful flags.

And as always, food plays a major role in the celebration and varies from region to region in Thailand. Making meals and offering them to the monks at a monastery is a long standing tradition held each new year. Those who make the meals consider it an honor and are often those who are known to be some of the best cooks in the area. Monks who eat the food will have continued stamina to continue praying for others throughout the next year.

Songkran is a time for celebrating family and friends and cleansing for a fresh new year. We invite you to join us at Ka-Prow Bistro to experience a small taste of the Thai New Year.