April 13-15, 2010 marked the Thai traditional New Year and Songkran water festival --a cultural and religious celebration of water. Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. However, Songkran is also known as the "Water Festival" as people believe that water will wash away bad luck.
The throwing of water is an essential aspect of Songkran. The water is meant as a symbol of washing all of the bad away and is sometimes filled with fragrant herbs when celebrated in the traditional manner. The traditional Songkran ritual serves as a way for Thai families express their respect for elders by pouring scented water onto the hands of their parents and grandparents and presenting them gifts and ancestoral dedications. The elders in return wish the youngsters good luck and prosperity.
In modern times, the emphasis is on fun and water-throwing rather than on the festival's spiritual and religious aspects. More raucous Thai revelers roam the streets with containers of water or water guns (sometimes mixed with mentholated talc), or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby. In recent years there have been calls to moderate the festival to lessen the many alcohol-related road accidents as well as injuries attributed to extreme behavior such as water being thrown in the faces of traveling motorcyclists.
Besides the throwing of water, people celebrating Songkran may also go to a Buddhist monastery to pray and give food to monks. They may also cleanse Buddha images from household shrines as well as Buddha images at monasteries by gently pouring water over them. It is believed that doing this will bring good luck and prosperity for the New Year. In many cities, such as Chiang Mai, the Buddha images from all of the city's important monasteries are paraded through the streets so that people can toss water at them, ritually 'bathing' the images, as they pass by on ornately decorated floats.
A neat video doumentary of Songkran can be found here.
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