The Chiang Mai Songkran Festival

The Chiang Mai Songkran festival is one of the most popular holidays on the Thai calendar. Each year all over Thailand from April 13-15, the country practically shuts down and everyone goes home for a multi-day celebration. No where is ther a bigger celebration than in Chiang Mai. The locals in Chiang Mai take Songkran very seriously indeed. The best place to experience Chiang Mai Songkran is around the moat area in the old city. People stand along the streets and around the moat armed with water pistols and great big barrels of water. Others fill the beds of pickups and drive the street just to throw water at the persons standing along the streets. The whole purpose is to get as many people as wet as possible before they do the same to you. Of course, it is not possible to stay dry in the midst of a city wide water battle and why would you want to stay dry. The whole scene is absolute chaos, but fantastic fun that lasts for three or four whole days - even longer in more rural parts of Chiang Mai province!

The festival that underlies the Chiang Mai Songkran activities is a structured and ordered tradition. On April 12th, people clean their houses and generally prepare for the coming New Year. (Songkran is the traditional time for new year on the Thai calendar.) It is a day of procession with Buddha images and floats that start at Nawarat Bridge and weave their way through the city streets ending at Wat Phra Singh. On April 13th, people prepare meals and food for merit-making activities that take place the next day. People also go to the Mae Ping River to collect sand to take to Wat Phra Singh. Here they make the sand into sand castles which they stick flowers into. On April 14th, the New Year begins in earnest. Merit-making ceremonies take place at temples and the food prepared the day earlier is given to monks. Everywhere Buddha images are gently cleansed using specially scented water. April 15th, is the last day of activities. On this day people pour water into the hands of their elders (parents, grandparents, etc.) and generally pay respect to them by offering prayers for their health and good fortune in the coming year.

Chiang Mai Songkran is a tremendous experience for tourists as well. It is a blend of exhilarating fun, ritual and ceremony that is simply unique to Thailand. It takes at least two or three days to fully appreciate the festival, so if you are in Thailand around this time, consider a trip to Chiang Mai - it will be an experience your family will never forget!

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