Songhla At The Temple

Songhla, the New Year celebration, was originally based on a lunar calendar and celebrated the coming of spring, the time for planting and the end of the winter drought. The day was fixed at April 13th a few hundred years ago. There is much revelry (as in the post below), but, since the day represents Buddha's entry into nirvana, there is much religious ceremonial activity through this holiday as well. Monks take buddha icons out of the temples and display them on the temple grounds, where the faithful make offerings and say personal prayers.

It is also a fund raiser for the temples. One can buy sheets of gold leaf, incense, flowers and prayer totems to be used as meritorious offerings. The gold leaf is ceremoniously applied to the reliquaries by worshippers. Some statues are so covered in gold leaf that their images are distorted.



A took these pictures the day before Songhla as the monks in our nearby wat were preparing the grounds for weekend worshipers.

Below is a sand mound with prayer flags created especially for the holiday. One can purchase a colorful prayer totem, walk up the sand steps, place it and make a silent prayer, or ask for merit in the next reincarnation. (A bought a totem and walked the steps. She hasn't said what she asked for - maybe for me to stop spending so much time on this blog.)



Note the cell phone up to the ear of the monk in the background of the picture below. It is somewhat jarring to see modern technology mixed into a scene of antiquity. But then... ?

We're All Wet

It's Thai New Year's Day and it's celebrated in a unique way. Everyone throws water at everyone. The only way to escape it is to lock yourself in a room for three days - that's how long the holiday lasts here in the south of Thailand, longer in the rural, farming north. We braved it. We hit the road this afternoon and headed out to meet friends at a restaurant on Rawai Beach. It's a trip that normally takes about fifteen minutes, but it was a stop 'n' start, bumper to bumper drive that took over an hour, and it was wet, wet, wet. What fun. The road was lined with water throwing revelers. We were armed with water pistols, but it was extraordinarily light armament against the water hoses, tubs, pitchers of water and colorful pump-action water rifles.


We felt smug, safe and dry in our little Nissan with the windows rolled up. The car was doused continuosly by laughing people of all ages throwing water at us from every conceivable container. As we approached one jovial gang on the side of the road, I had a bright idea. "Roll down your window just a enough to get a shot at them with your pistol," I said to A. She did and got a few squirts off, but I didn't get a chance to see if she actually hit anyone, because one clever fellow managed to dump a dishpan full of water through that tiny crack in our window, soaking A, and even me on the other side. Then someone almost opened the unlocked passenger side door to try for an interior flood. We got past it, locked the doors and never opened a window again. We got our bath when we got out of the car at the restaurant. There was no avoiding it.



The laughter, the gaiety, the contact and the good nature of it all was a happy pill that beats any drug out there. And that's the thing of it. Thais are notorious for their easy and accomodating ways. Eye contact and returned smiles are everywhere every day of the year. It takes westerners by surprise and it's even a bit disarming. Like... are these people for real? Well they are and I think that the way they celebrate the dawn of the New Year encapsulates it. Throwing water at one another may seem a bit silly and childish, but a lot is going on through the act. It's a basic, but sophisticated, method of bonding the tribe. Unity is the secret of the success of this small country that has never been colonialized, or taken over by the giants that surround them. The water throwing is happy contact - a way of touching one another mischeiviously, but it's also saying, 'hey... we're in it together.'

I felt very much a part of what was going on today. It warmed my heart. Thailand is called 'the land of smiles,' but during this celebration it is the land of laughter and we all laugh together, because we are all wet, we all face one another head-on and we are all happy about it. I'm a foreigner in their land, a "farange," in Thai, but I felt accepted and very much a participant in the water throwing ritual.

It has it's serious side as well and I was fortunate enough to have been bestowed a great honor (for a farange) when I went to work tonight. In the spirit of the day, but keeping things restrained in the work place, I dipped my fingers into a glass of water and flicked it at one of the ladies on our staff. She smiled broadly and then performed the very serious ritual of respect for elders associated with New Year's Day. She cupped her hands and poured water into them then motioned for me to put out a hand. She then bowed and gently poured water onto my hand. I have to tell you that it brought tears to my eyes and made this six hundred and nine year old man feel like maybe all the years were worth it. (Of course, I never mentioned that I'm no wiser than I was when I was fourteen and that I didn't deserve that kind of respect.)

The label, "Amazing Thailand," has been attached to travel folders and all sorts of tourist-beckoning material. I've accumulated a raft of amazing Thai experiences over the years and "Amazing Thailand" keeps coming at me.

A Happy New Year indeed.

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)