Explainer | Songkran, Thailand’s water festival: its Buddhist rituals, family traditions, mass water fights and dark side, from sexual harassment to drink driving
- Songkran marks Thai New Year, and the old practice of pouring water to wash away sins and bad luck has evolved into colourful and exhilarating mass water fights
- But splashing dirty water causes illness, sexual harassment is rife – with women complaining of being groped – and excessive boozing causes road deaths to spike
Songkran comes from the Sanskrit word sankranti, which roughly translates as “astrological transition”. The Buddhist festival, which is celebrated from April 13 to 15, marks the Thai New Year.
It’s a time for personal cleansing, making merit and keeping cool amid searing heat. It’s also an opportunity for families to get together and enjoy specially prepared meals.
In readiness for the holiday, Thais deep-clean their homes and public places, including offices and schools. Parks and pavements are also spruced up. People wake up early and visit temples to pray and present monks with offerings of food, robes and donations.
At home, young family members pour rose and jasmine water over the hands and feet of elders as an act of gratitude and devotion.
Splashing water to symbolise the washing away of sins and bad luck is a theme throughout the festival. The final day is known as Wan Payawan, or Bathing the Buddha day.
Temple-goers trickle water gently down the backs of monks as a mark of respect, after which the chief monk will bless those gathered. People also pour water over statues and figures to wash away misfortune accumulated over the previous year.
Preparation is the key for anyone planning to take part. Besides buying a water gun and din sor pong, a type of talcum powder, participants should stash valuables in a waterproof ziplock bag to keep them dry during the “hostilities”. Better still, leave phones, cameras and jewellery back at the hotel.
Stock up on sunscreen, have a bottle of drinking water handy and invest in a pair of cheap swimming goggles. Wearing a swimsuit makes sense, as does wearing shoes with a good grip. The streets get very slippery.
Now you’re all set to drench as many people as possible and smear them with the talc. You’ll no doubt win a few skirmishes, but expect to be outgunned by firefighters armed with powerful hoses and elephants spraying water from their trunks.
Don’t assume that if you don’t have a gun people won’t soak you. Most revellers will take even more pleasure in doing so. Only monks, babies and the elderly are exempt from a dousing – if you do inadvertently saturate someone you shouldn’t, apologise profusely and set your sights on other targets.
Songkran is also a time for friends to meet up for a social beer or two – assuming they’re able to find a venue away from the exuberance. As one contributor to an expat forum put it, “They can squirt whoever they want – as long as they don’t get water in my beer.”
Excessive alcohol intake, rather than the odd watered-down beer, has long been the biggest challenge facing the police over the holiday. Despite countless safety campaigns, road accidents soar during the annual “seven dangerous days”.
Last year, 278 people died and 1,869 were injured in traffic collisions between April 11 and 16. Drink-driving contributed to more than 60 per cent of the casualties reported, with motorcycles and pickup trucks involved in the vast majority of incidents.
For many Thais, particularly the older generations, the original meaning of Songkran has been lost and the festival has become commercialised and boisterous. Respectfully sprinkling small amounts of water on monks, friends and family has given way to what is promoted as the world’s wildest water fight.
Each year the guns get bigger and the fire hoses more lethal – turning the powerful jets on (inebriated) motorcyclists is an accident waiting to happen.
In a poll conducted by Thailand’s Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, half the women and girls surveyed complained they had been groped or otherwise sexually harassed during Thai New Year water festivals.
Strengthening the police presence, providing designated safe zones and encouraging victims to report incidents have done little to modify such inappropriate behaviour.
Infections continue to be an issue – that brown Chiang Mai moat water is of dubious quality, so protect your eyes and avoid swallowing water.
Tourists often suffer stomach problems after Songkran because buckets and water guns are filled from unfiltered sources.
In addition, frequent changes in body temperature caused by overexerting at the hottest time of year, as well as being doused with buckets of iced water, result in an April epidemic of colds and flu. Pneumonia is not unheard of.
Despite people wrapping phones in ziplock bags, they can still get wet. To salvage a water-damaged device, online troubleshooters recommend the moisture-absorbing qualities of silica gel packets, followed by a prompt professional clean before corrosion sets in.
Songkran marks the end of the dry season and the beginning of the monsoon rains – if they do arrive, that is. Highlighting the importance of tourism to the Thai economy, fun-seeking foreigners are encouraged to pour water over each other while others are expected to limit their consumption.
During a severe drought in 2016, farmers rather than revellers were ordered to curtail their water use and were subjected to tap water rationing in some areas. Calls for a dry Songkran fell on deaf ears.
