Sawadee Pee Mai

I'm excited. Today I discovered that I've lived much longer than I ever dreamed of living. The Thai New Year celebration, called Songkran, falls on April 13th and this Thursday will mark the first day of the year 2549. I was born in a Christian calendar year, so that counts as my birth date, but I'm living in a Buddhist calendar and that counts too because I'm living here now. (I have my official work permit pass book stamped 2548 to prove it.) So that means that I'm six hundred and nine years old! I think I'm in pretty good shape, considering, but some mornings, when I look in the mirror, I definitely look my Thai age.

The Thai calendar is based on the year Buddha achieved nirvana. That was five hundred and forty three years before the Christian calendar came into existence. Songkran is the most celebrated holiday in Thailand. It is steeped in mystical and material traditions and water plays a central role in a number of ways. The winter drought ends around this time every year (it's pouring rain as I'm typing) and it marks the time for planting new crops. Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, so the spring rains are very important here.

The new year also, as in all cultures, denotes a time of renewal - a time for absolutions and resolves. Water rituals here involve ceremonial sprinkling of Buddhist statues and the sprinkling of water by elders on the hands of the young. It is an important time for renewing family bonds and people travel long distances to family gatherings, bonding through heartfelt, serious water ceremonies.

It is also a time of much revelry and gaiety and, like New Year celebrations everywhere, much alcohol is consumed and sometimes things get a bit out of hand. There are countless parades and water plays a big part in them. Youngsters come equipped with water guns and buckets filled with water. No one escapes the deluge. Everyone gets wet. Pickup trucks with large canisters of water pass along the streets and water is thrown at the spectators, who throw water back in turn. The New Year festival lasts three days.

The street scene is wonderfully silly and has become something far removed from the animist rituals that began the whole water thing, but then... three days of silliness and abandon a year
sounds to me like a great tonic - something to look forward to and something to talk about afterwards.

Now... I'm not sure I'm up for it, but we've been invited to join a group of Thai water throwers in Patong on Thursday. I've avoided the fray the other years I've been here through Songkran, but maybe this is the year for me to douse and be doused. A bought a couple of water pistols today, so we have the armanents. I'm not sure (being six hundred and nine years old) that I have the energy to make it through such a vigorous day.

A is sure to bring her camera, although we are advised to keep it covered in plastic as much as possible. With any luck, I may be able to post a few pictures of the festivities in the next blog, although I'm tempted to just sit it out in my rocking chair on the porch.

Sawadee Pee Mai (Happy New Year)