Thai New Year
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The Thai New Year (สงกรานต์ = Songkran in Thai language) is celebrated every year on April 13 to April 15.
The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed. If these days fall on a weekend, the missed days off will be taken on the days immediately following. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand; thereafter April 1 was used until 1940. January 1 is now the beginning of the year. The traditional Thai New Year has been a national holiday since then.
New year traditions
The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water. People roam the streets with bowls of water, water guns or even a garden hose, and drench each other and passersby. Some even mix colored powder into the water. This tradition originated in the lustration ceremony, in which the Buddha images in the temples are cleaned. In many cities, such as Chiang Mai, the Buddha statues from all of the wats in the city are paraded through the streets, so that people can throw water on them as they pass.
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Other traditional elements of the festival include:
- Young people visit elders, and pour small amount of lustral water on the hands of their elders as a sign of respect.
- People carry handfuls of sand to their temple (in order to make up for the dirt that they carry away on their feet during the rest of the year). The sand is then piled into large, tiered sand castles and decorated with colorful flags.
- In general, Songkran is a time for cleaning and renewal. Many Thais take this opportunity to give their home a thorough cleaning.
Nowadays, the emphasis is placed on fun and water-throwing rather than on the festival's spiritual and religious aspects, which sometimes prompts complaints from traditionalists. In recent years there have been calls to moderate the festival as there are many road accidents and injuries attributed to some extreme behavior.
Astrological calculation
Even though the traditional calendar of Thailand like most of Southeast Asia uses a lunisolar calendar, the date of the new year was calculated on a purely solar basis. The term Songkran comes from Sanskrit and means "a move or change" - in this case the move of the sun into the Aries zodiac. Originally this happened at the vernal equinox, but, as the Thai astrology did not know about precession, the date moved from March to April.
There is a similar named Indian Festival called as Sankrant or Makar Sankranti, celebrated on 14 January every year. Songkran as such has similarity to Indian festival of Holi.de:Songkran fr:Songkran ja:ソンクラーン nl:Songkran zh:泼水节