Know Before You Go: The
Songkran Festival
What Can You Expect at the
Songkran Festival?
By
JoAnne Green
April
16, 2008
At the
beginning of each year, I receive a string of e-mails from my Thai
friends to remind me about the Songkran Festival. If you are into
cultural celebrations like I am, I think that you will have a blast
to be a part of the Songkran Festival.
Many
tourists are not aware of Thai traditional customs that are observed
during the Songkran Festival in Thai Kingdom. Some of them who
arrived in Thailand during this major celebration were taken by
surprise with one of the wildest and most exotic festivities in the
region.
Songkran in Pattaya 2006
Photo by Lars Adler Hansen
Songkran
Festival is Thai traditional lunar New Year. It is officially
celebrated from April 13th through April 15th
of each year. However, the celebration often starts one day earlier
and ends on April 16th. The festivities and traditional
customs are observed throughout the Thai Kingdom during this time.
Like many Americans during Thanksgiving Holiday, most Thais try to
return home to visit and spend time with their family during this
major holiday and observe the traditional customs.
Thai
government agencies and most private businesses are closed during
the 5-day-long festival.
The traffic
is terribly jammed throughout Thailand during this long celebration,
more so than any other time of the year.
This year
the first day of the Songkran celebration, which also is known as
Sang Karn Long Day or the passing day of the old year, was Sunday,
April 13. The activities on this day are symbols of getting rid of
the Old Year and greeting the New Year. The Thai people believe that
it is important for them to greet the New Year with their house
completely cleaned, both interior and exterior. Adults and children
pay special attention to grooming and put on their brand new
clothes.
The Chinese
and Vietnamese people practice the same traditions on their New Year
also, except that the Chinese and Vietnamese New Year falls on a
different date.
Monday,
April 14, 2008 was Nao Day in Thailand. On this day, Thai people prepare food which will be used in the Buddhist ceremonial offering
the next day. They also take time to clean and decorate the local
temple ground which is known as the wat.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
was Maha Songkran Day.
This day is the beginning of New Year. You will
see Thais in their traditional outfits heading to the temples in the
early morning to offer prepared food, fruit, new robes, and other
goods to the monks.
Today, April 16, 2008 is
Wan Park Bpee. It is the
day to pay respect to ancestors, elders, prominent individuals, and
scholars. For the living, the traditional ceremony involves pouring
scented, purified water over the hands of the person to whom respect
is being paid and who, in turn, blesses the participants in the
ceremony.
In modern times, the Songkran
Festival has become famously known for its wild water-splashing
games during the 5-day-long celebration. Traditionally, the
water-splashing games begin in the afternoon of the Maha Songkran
Day, symbolizing blessings. Nowadays, the water games begin on April
12, and the games are carried on continuously everywhere in the
country for the entire 5 days of the celebration. People will use
all types of containers to carry the water, and even use water hoses
and water guns to thoroughly douse friends and strangers alike.
Everyone is a fair game for this wild water game. If you do not wish
to participate in the water games in any shape or form, you are
advised to stay indoors.
Unless you have attended the
Thai annual water festival before, you will be caught by surprise.
It is possibly the largest water-games event on the Asia continent,
if not in the world. To ensure that you have a fabulous time at the
Songkran Festival, and a memorable and safe trip, you need to
prepare.
What to bring:
I suggest that you be prepared
to get wet frequently during the celebration. Bringing the following
items will allow you to have more fun:
• Open-toed sandals or flip
flops. If you don’t wear socks or stockings, you won’t have to keep
changing them throughout the festival.
• Cotton clothing: It is quite
hot and humid in Thailand during this time of the year. You need
clothes that are not hot and sticky if they get wet and that will
dry fairly quickly.
• A clear, light-weight rain
jacket. It will help you stay dry sometimes during the festival. It
is easy to catch a cold if you are doused constantly.
• Water balloons and/or water
guns so you can join in and have fun with the Thai locals in their
wildest water games.
What
to do before you go:
• Try to book all of your
lodgings in a large city. It is difficult to take bus rides from one
city to another. Because so many businesses are closed during the
festival, Bangkok is much quieter than at other times of the year.
• Waterproof your camera. It
is best to put your camera in a waterproof bag every time you step
outside of your hotel during the Songkran Festival. Better yet,
bring a waterproof camera so you can get shots of the action.
• Buy international travel
medical insurance. I recommend that you obtain a travel medical
insurance policy that has emergency medical evacuation benefit.
Do not attempt to drive
anywhere in Thailand. The traffic gets heavier and crazier almost
everywhere in the country during the Songkran Festival. Road
accidents are very high during the festival. According to a recent
report from Thai News Agency, 45 persons were killed and 557 injured
in 477 road accidents just on the first day of the festival this
year.
As with most festivals
anywhere, there is a lot of drinking, so crowds can sometimes get
rowdy.
Contact me at 559-294-0316 or
info_at_internationalriskriskmanagement_dot_com for recommendations for
appropriate international travel medical insurance or
Click
here to visit Sunburst Worldwide Insurance Services.
Finally, I would like to say
that if you go, you should know what to expect, prepare for
unforeseen events, and learn how to deal with them.
Enjoy your trip!!!
Copyright (c) JoAnne
Green
###
About JoAnne
Green: JoAnne is an American
businesswoman. She specializes in Multinational Business Relation
and Transglobal Risk Management. She is the founder and principal of
Sunburst
International Risk Management (SRIM) and
Sunburst Worldwide
Insurance Services.
For information on SIRM international risk and insurance protection
programs, custom-designed risk mitigation and training services,
please visit Sunburst websites: www.InternationalRiskManagement.com
and
www.WorldwideMedicalPlans.com
Click
here for Instant Quotes & Online Purchase
For Global Travel Medical, Accident, & Life Insurance
Another Airline Casualty: Aloha Airline
By
JoAnne Green
March 31, 2008
Seeing a decal of a bird of paradise flower on Aloha
Airline’s tail often brought me good memories of good old
days of inter-island hoping during the early 1980s. We, a
bunch of young working college people in Oahu, would get in
line in front of the Aloha Airline counter to get our
tickets to either Maui or Big Island for a 3-day holiday
weekend. We each paid about $US45.00 round trip to
Maui and $US65.00 to
Big
Island. Of
course, we often selected the least busy time of the day to
get such low prices. No advanced reservations needed. We
benefited from fierce competition between Aloha Air and
Hawaiian Air in those days.
On
April 1, 2008, Aloha Airline will cease its operation
completely after a long financial struggle since 2004. There are no
longer any working online reservations through
Aloha Airlines.
Travelers who have booked tickets for future trips can contact
either
United Airlines or
Hawaiian Airlines to rebook their
tickets. Neither
United Airlines or
Hawaiian Airlines promise to honor all
Aloha’s tickets.
Aloha!!!
###
Copyright (c) JoAnne Green
About JoAnne
Green: JoAnne is an American
businesswoman. She specializes in Multinational Business Relation
and Transglobal Risk Management. She is the founder and principal of
Sunburst
International Risk Management (SRIM) and
Sunburst Worldwide
Insurance Services.
For information on SIRM international risk and insurance protection
programs, custom-designed risk mitigation and training services,
please visit Sunburst websites: www.InternationalRiskManagement.com
and
www.WorldwideMedicalPlans.com
Click Here
for Instant Quotes & Online
Purchase
for Global Travel,
Medical & Life Insurance
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