The current calendar year in Thailand is 2561, and that’s not just because Thais celebrate New Year three times per annum, or four if you count Tet. Hey, they like to celebrate, and I live here, so it's all good.
Thais celebrate New Year with the arrival of January 1st and many also celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year in February. But traditionally, New Year for Thais was marked by the Festival of Songkran starting on April 13th and lasting for three or four days.
In this once agricultural society, Songkran marked the transition from the Dry Season (October to mid-April) into the Wet Season (mid-April to September). At the beginning of Songkran, farmers would take the remainder of their preciously stored water to the local temples and cleanse the images of Buddha in the hope of receiving in return, good rains for their crops through the coming Wet Season. Tradition can be an early victim of progress, and the Festival of Songkran has now transformed into the world’s biggest street party and water fight. As such, it has become a major tourist attraction and raises much needed revenue for the country.
In the video, you watch the fun enfold as I ride around the district of Lak Si, the non-tourist district of Northern Bangkok where I call home. The water thrown and poured over me is to wash away the sins I’ve accumulated in the previous year, and the white menthol powder smeared on my face is to ward away malevolent spirits that may wish to cause me harm.
My neighbours clearly assumed that I had many sins, but as one of the few Europeans living in this amazing multicultural district, even wearing a helmet, shades, and a face full of powder, they still recognise both me and my cute little scooter,
I hope you enjoy the video I’ve compiled from footage I shot in 2017.
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