Happy New Year!
Thailand needs very little reason to have a massive party and Thai people are quite happy to adopt other countries national celebrations if it provides an excuse to dress up, decorate the office and just generally have a good old knees-up.
The second New Year was Chinese New Year in mid-February. Many Thais have Chinese ancestry, so it makes sense that they would join this celebration, and again it’s a great marketing opportunity for retailers. The Chinese descend on Bangkok during the Chinese New Year period typically buying everything in bulk so it represents a major date in the retail calendar.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar New Year, where it’s clear when one year ends and the next begins, Songkran spans three days with extra public holidays thrown in for good measure, so it is a nice long weekend for everyone. It is a Buddhist celebration, so people seem to balance going to the temples to ‘make merit’ with drinking and partying for the rest of the day and night.
I’d foolishly assumed I would get to be an engaged observer during the ‘make merit’ ceremony, present but kept at a safe distance so I couldn’t ruin anything. But no, before I knew I was sitting on the floor before ten monks. What then followed was some lighting of candles, chanting and praying. It was all very nice and spiritual, although I had no idea how long it would go on for which is slightly disconcerting your legs are falling asleep as you try to sit still on the floor. I’m always impressed with how fully grown Thai adults can sit on the floor for such long periods of time, a skill which I have not had to apply since I was ten years old. The ‘make merit’ does take a while so I was relieved to see other people also having to adjust their position.
We were all heads bowed, eyes closed, hands together but I was able to sneak a few glances to see what was happening. There were offerings of food and more candles. What I didn’t see coming was the water that one of the monks threw across the room over us all – I did physically jump much to the amusement of my colleagues. Water is a big part of Songkran as it represents the washing away of one’s sins and bad luck – more on this later!
The chanting and praying part finished, and we then had to give the monks an offering (which appeared to be some cleaning products), and this had to be pushed onto the robes of the monks. I had to give two monks the offering and they were very kind to me when clearly I had no idea what I was doing. That was pretty much it except a few selfies; strangely it seems perfectly appropriate to take a selfie during a religious ceremony in Thailand.
With work finished on Thursday, our attention then turned to the Songkran celebrations in Bangkok. For quite a while people had been explaining to me what happens in Bangkok during Songkran. One of my fellow expat colleagues described sitting inside a restaurant and a total stranger tipping a bucket of water over him without warning. Others described the 5km long street parties with dancing and water fights.
I found it quite difficult to imagine perfect strangers throwing water over me and although I could picture a lot of people walking around with water guns, I was really envisaging a bit of light-hearted splashing around as an accompaniment to sitting outside a bar.
We got through Friday mostly unscathed but ventured a bit further afield on Saturday to join the larger celebrations. First, we stopped at Central World where there were several music events and a foam party. The choice of music was hip-hop style, including a lot of prolifically gratuitous swearing which I always find slightly inappropriate mid-afternoon, but fortunately, nobody else seemed to notice. Disappointingly, we’d had to empty our water guns before we got on the BTS so we entered the enclosure unarmed and were promptly attacked by an army of teenage boys who gave us a thorough soaking. We continued on our path through the crowd, desperately seeking ammunition and still getting soaked. Finally, we found somewhere to top up and we were ready to fight back!
It was this point I realised that I wasn’t a fourteen-year-old boy and that water fights weren’t that interesting! Once I reached peak saturation I couldn’t really see the point in anyone continuing to spray me with water. At the same time, Chris was having the realisation that he was, in fact, a fourteen-year-old boy and water fights were the best things ever!
We exhausted our ammunition and hopped back on the BTS towards Nana. At least here we could get a drink at the same time as getting wet. On the way we passed another small group with a hosepipe who were ensuring any passing motorbike and tuk-tuk did not escape the spray. Chris discovered that the most fun ever comes from spraying water through the open windows of a bus where there was no escape for the defenseless passengers!
We headed back to Ekkamai and passed more groups on the street, got more soaked, more covered in white paste. I didn’t mind this part, as perfect strangers delicately poured water over me and smeared their paste covered hands across my face I felt strangely privileged to be included in their celebration. Much better than some foreign chap spraying water in my face.
We got a ride home on a Heineken sponsored tuk-tuk which momentarily broken down, but after a bit of prodding and poking by the driver seemed to get going again. Obviously, as we were in a tuk-tuk we were fair game for another soaking and yet another bucket of water was thrown over me!
Now feeling thoroughly cleansed of all my sins I am reflecting on what I’ve learned from this experience. I think the main lesson is that you can’t do Songkran half-assed. You’re either in or out. But when the temperature outside is above 40°C being soaking wet isn’t all that bad.
New Year Again and Again!
Christmas was the first example; it wasn’t just the western style shopping centres that adorned their facades with snowmen and Christmas trees, very local establishments also joined in with their own, less extravagant contributions. Christmas really did just blend into the New Year celebrations, which in fact were to celebrate only the first of three ‘New Years’ that Thailand recognises.The second New Year was Chinese New Year in mid-February. Many Thais have Chinese ancestry, so it makes sense that they would join this celebration, and again it’s a great marketing opportunity for retailers. The Chinese descend on Bangkok during the Chinese New Year period typically buying everything in bulk so it represents a major date in the retail calendar.
Thai New Year
Now in mid-April, we’re celebrating our third New Year since arriving here, which is Thai New Year or Songkran.Unlike the Gregorian calendar New Year, where it’s clear when one year ends and the next begins, Songkran spans three days with extra public holidays thrown in for good measure, so it is a nice long weekend for everyone. It is a Buddhist celebration, so people seem to balance going to the temples to ‘make merit’ with drinking and partying for the rest of the day and night.
Making Merit
At work, we held our own ‘make merit’ and Songkran blessing just before the long weekend. As always, I had only a vague awareness of what any of this meant before it started so spent a day generally flailing around trying not to offend anyone with my cultural ignorance.I’d foolishly assumed I would get to be an engaged observer during the ‘make merit’ ceremony, present but kept at a safe distance so I couldn’t ruin anything. But no, before I knew I was sitting on the floor before ten monks. What then followed was some lighting of candles, chanting and praying. It was all very nice and spiritual, although I had no idea how long it would go on for which is slightly disconcerting your legs are falling asleep as you try to sit still on the floor. I’m always impressed with how fully grown Thai adults can sit on the floor for such long periods of time, a skill which I have not had to apply since I was ten years old. The ‘make merit’ does take a while so I was relieved to see other people also having to adjust their position.
We were all heads bowed, eyes closed, hands together but I was able to sneak a few glances to see what was happening. There were offerings of food and more candles. What I didn’t see coming was the water that one of the monks threw across the room over us all – I did physically jump much to the amusement of my colleagues. Water is a big part of Songkran as it represents the washing away of one’s sins and bad luck – more on this later!
The chanting and praying part finished, and we then had to give the monks an offering (which appeared to be some cleaning products), and this had to be pushed onto the robes of the monks. I had to give two monks the offering and they were very kind to me when clearly I had no idea what I was doing. That was pretty much it except a few selfies; strangely it seems perfectly appropriate to take a selfie during a religious ceremony in Thailand.
Getting Wet
Later that afternoon, we then had the more informal Songkran part of the event where we wished all the staff well and then they poured water with flowers over the hands of the senior managers and wiped some sort of water/powder paste on our faces. This then quickly escalated into everyone throwing buckets of water over each other! For once I had been pre-warned about how wet I would get so had brought a full change of clothes including underwear!With work finished on Thursday, our attention then turned to the Songkran celebrations in Bangkok. For quite a while people had been explaining to me what happens in Bangkok during Songkran. One of my fellow expat colleagues described sitting inside a restaurant and a total stranger tipping a bucket of water over him without warning. Others described the 5km long street parties with dancing and water fights.
I found it quite difficult to imagine perfect strangers throwing water over me and although I could picture a lot of people walking around with water guns, I was really envisaging a bit of light-hearted splashing around as an accompaniment to sitting outside a bar.
Not Your Average Water Fight
I’m not sure I could have got it more wrong! The commitment to getting yourself and everyone around you wet is staggering. For us it started on Friday morning at 07:30, walking the dogs along Sukhumvit 71 past a small group of revellers who politely poured a bowl of water over Siale and I. I’m not sure if the party had just started or was continuing from the night before (there seems to be much less distinction between one day ending and another beginning in Bangkok) but they were all in good spirits! As it was already pretty warm the water wasn’t entirely unpleasant although Siale was, of course, unamused at being splashed.We got through Friday mostly unscathed but ventured a bit further afield on Saturday to join the larger celebrations. First, we stopped at Central World where there were several music events and a foam party. The choice of music was hip-hop style, including a lot of prolifically gratuitous swearing which I always find slightly inappropriate mid-afternoon, but fortunately, nobody else seemed to notice. Disappointingly, we’d had to empty our water guns before we got on the BTS so we entered the enclosure unarmed and were promptly attacked by an army of teenage boys who gave us a thorough soaking. We continued on our path through the crowd, desperately seeking ammunition and still getting soaked. Finally, we found somewhere to top up and we were ready to fight back!
It was this point I realised that I wasn’t a fourteen-year-old boy and that water fights weren’t that interesting! Once I reached peak saturation I couldn’t really see the point in anyone continuing to spray me with water. At the same time, Chris was having the realisation that he was, in fact, a fourteen-year-old boy and water fights were the best things ever!
We exhausted our ammunition and hopped back on the BTS towards Nana. At least here we could get a drink at the same time as getting wet. On the way we passed another small group with a hosepipe who were ensuring any passing motorbike and tuk-tuk did not escape the spray. Chris discovered that the most fun ever comes from spraying water through the open windows of a bus where there was no escape for the defenseless passengers!
No Escape
At Nana Plaza we entered a bar, got a beer and took a seat. But there was no respite, oh no. Again, I couldn’t see why people kept pouring water over me when I couldn’t get any wetter, but it continued. The only irritating part was some fat farang bloke who kept repeatedly spraying freezing cold water at my face. Chris did his best to defend my honour, but this seemed to only encourage him!We headed back to Ekkamai and passed more groups on the street, got more soaked, more covered in white paste. I didn’t mind this part, as perfect strangers delicately poured water over me and smeared their paste covered hands across my face I felt strangely privileged to be included in their celebration. Much better than some foreign chap spraying water in my face.
We got a ride home on a Heineken sponsored tuk-tuk which momentarily broken down, but after a bit of prodding and poking by the driver seemed to get going again. Obviously, as we were in a tuk-tuk we were fair game for another soaking and yet another bucket of water was thrown over me!
Stamina
The stamina of people to continue this celebration for the whole weekend is commendable. By Sunday afternoon I thought people might have run out of steam but no, they were still throwing water over anything that moved well into the evening.Now feeling thoroughly cleansed of all my sins I am reflecting on what I’ve learned from this experience. I think the main lesson is that you can’t do Songkran half-assed. You’re either in or out. But when the temperature outside is above 40°C being soaking wet isn’t all that bad.
Typical: “It was this point I realised that I wasn’t a fourteen-year-old boy and that water fights weren’t that interesting! Once I reached peak saturation I couldn’t really see the point in anyone continuing to spray me with water. At the same time, Chris was having the realisation that he was in fact a fourteen-year-old boy and water fights were the best thing ever!“
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