Songkran Festival

Songkran began and was in full force despite if I was feeling well or not. As time passed, I slowly was doing better….and I mean slowly. I was constantly going to the large hospital in Korat every couple days, in addition to the daily appointments at the local hospital also. The citizens in the community were so accommodating. I couldn’t take myself to the hospitals, and ma and the monks always wanted to come with me as to ensure I was cared for properly. Thus a whole entourage would go with me since we needed a car that could accommodate us women and the monks. Don’t forget the monks cannot sit next to, or touch women, so it was always interesting sorting out seating arrangements.

Songkran festival is the most celebrated and special time of year for the Buddhist people. The events begin around the 11th of April and last between 3-10 days depending on the community.
I had so much support from this community while being ill; people would pull themselves away from the activities and celebrations to care and look after me during the time when I really needed it. This has touched my heart in a way almost nothing else has, and I feel thankful everyday that someone was with me there.

The word Songkran is from the Sanskrit meaning of the new Solar Year, but nowadays Thailand celebrates the New Year on December 31st like we do. The festival is celebrated with water. In Buddhism, water is representative of life, and so throughout Thailand you will find people during this time getting completely soaked with water, which is convenient since it is also one of the hottest seasons of the year.

Water is the life-blood of these SE Asian counties because they are still highly agricultural and this festival is at the onset of the rainy season. As the rains come, the replanting of the rice fields is approaching. Songkran is a festival celebrating life through water.

At the onset of Songkran at the temple, the morning breakfast ceremony was not held in the normal building; it could not accommodate all the people that would be participating. It was held in the outdoor area where the monks had diligently been decorating in preparation for the festival.



The monks were at the front of the room up on a stage and were holding a single line of sting from the web-work across the entire room that was over-head and stemming from the Buddha statue near the front of the room. The small single lines of string that the monks had bundled up at each junction in the web above our heads were then pulled down by us and we held them through the chanting and prayers. At the conclusion of the ceremony, we tied them to each others wrists as the community members did for me when coming back from the hospital.

The following is a video and photos of the monks during the ceremony at breakfast.

The Abbot leading the chanting.

Phra Lout.


Phra Leang.

This is the Abbot anointing the people with holy water. Traditionally he will sprinkle them 3 times, however when he got to me, he gave me lots and lots of extra splashes and announced to the community in Thai, which Lout translated for me; that I needed extra since I had been so unlucky recently. I laughed a lot about this and thanked him over and over....I sure needed it!

This would be the monks favorite time...breakfast! This photo shows the string web over head as well as the procession of how breakfast happened during the festival...and what an event it was!

This is a parade to offer money attached to a money tree stand that the community is brining to the temple. There is music and singing and shouting as the people dance through the streets carrying the money tree.

On the first day of Songkran I had to go into Korat to the big hospital there, and driving though the streets it was quite a sight!

The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water. People gather in the streets with containers of water or water guns, or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby. Really commonly, people will pour buckets of water on passing cars. Entire families will ride in the back of trucks or even on tractors then spray, splash, and drench anyone, and everyone they see.
People of all ages get involved in this activity and no one is ever offended or worried about how they look during it all. This, however, was not always the main activity of this festival. Songkran was traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends and neighbors.
And surely swimming suits and tank-tops are not traditional attire. I hear that in some of the more touristy areas of Thailand the tourists will dress this way, but it is highly disrespectful and this would not be acceptable in this rural community I was in as you can see from the photos. The rural villages of these counties are very modest, even when soaking wet.


One evening during the festival the Abbot sent for me at Ma and Pa’s house. When I arrived to the temple he was sitting on the stage in the outdoor area along with Leang and Lout. They were all smiling at me, and they told me that since I liked the bracelets that the people in the community had made for me upon returning from the hospital, the Abbot had decided to make me another bracelet as well.

This over time had become a joke to them all, as they loaded me up with more and more bracelets before leaving Thailand. I think when I finally left Bonpong I had 17 on my left wrist and 19 on the right.

During the afternoon of the 13th, the community gathers and a water ceremony begins at the temple. It starts with the offering and blessing of water.
People gather and bring wather bowls that are adorned and scented with flowers.

After the monks lead the people through chanting, the monks will line up and walk past the statue of Buddha and pour flower scented water upon it.

The community follows and then will pour water into the monks hands as well as they are seated in a line. This is really special for the women of the community because this is as close to touching a monk as you can get. A woman cannot even hand a piece of paper to a monk, she would have to hand it to a man who would then hand it to the monk, or she would have to set it down and the monk could then pick it up.
This may sound strange, but it is to prevent the direct sensation of touch caused by a woman which would then lead to impure thoughts which would then lead to more suffering. So pouring water from your hand directly into a monk's is a very special tradition for the Buddhist women. Leang told me it is his mother's favorite part of Songkran because it is as close as she can get to giving her son a hug.

Next the elders will line up after the monks sitting in chairs as well and the young people in the community will walk past them pouring water over their left shoulders and in their hands. Since water is a considered 'life' in Buddhism, pouring water on the elderly is essentially giving them life. It is a mark of respect while seeking the blessing of the older people.

After I passed through the line, the old women kept grabbing my hands telling me to sit also. I didn't understand why until the Abbot and Lout approached me and requested that I sit with the elderly people since I needed the water of the community to cool my fever and give me life. And so I did. As the community members walked past me, almost every person would ask me 'Now may?' which translates into English as 'Are you cold?' Since my fever was still relentlessly high, I responded 'Mai chai, lawn mak mak!' which means 'No, I'm very very hot!' and so more water ensued. By the end of the line the community thought it was pretty funny that I was sitting with the elderly receiving life, that one of my students came with a bucket of water and shouted 'Dton Mai lawn mak mak!' as he poured it all over me. It sure cooled me off! Too bad it was so temporary.

In ancient days, old people were actually given a bath and clothed in new apparel presented by the young folks as a token of respect for the New Year. To follow this tradition in a more modern way, children will return home with their children and visit the elderly and offer gifts to them. Because of this, even though the village of Bonpong is quite small, Songkran at the temple was quite a large event due to the relatives of many of the community members returning home from Bangkok where they live and work. I can now understand why it was so important for Leang, Lout and other monks to come and help out during this time.

This was the official end of Songkran, although there are many events still to come that are traditional during this time of year, but many of the visiting family members returned home after the water ceremony.

I really wish during all these events that I had been feeling better, it was difficult for me to talk to so many people and try to explain what was wrong with me and why I wasn’t feeling well…especially since I didn’t know why my fever was lasting so long still, and the medicines weren’t helping. Not to mention getting attacked by a rabid dog too. I attended the highlights, but truthfully, I spent most of the time in bed in my quiet room at Ma’s house.

Well, with a New Year, all I can hope for is good health….but lets see what the doctors say as I continue to pass the time as I recover in Bonpong…..