sonGkarn

Bangkok THELOCALITIES SPECIAL EDITION

2012

T r a v e l r e s p o n s i b l y

B A N G K O K THELOCALITIES

Bangkok THELOCALITIES 02

L E G E N D A R Y

SONGKARN

Deriving from the Sanskrit language, the word Songkran means to pass or to move into. In this context, the meaning implies to the passing and the moving of the sun, the moon and the other planets into one of the zodiacal orbits. And the Grand Songkran Festival which falls in Aries indicates the new era of the Thai New Year. Owing to the ancient Indian belief, the Grand Songkran Festival is most appropriate to be the Thai New Year due to the timing of the best season which is known as the spring of India which comes right after the cold season of winter. Also, there are other aspects supporting this belief such as blooming flow-ers, the fresh atmosphere of nature and the livelihood of all living creatures. With the great influence from the Indians, the Songkran Festival portrays the typical ways of life of the Thais which involve the agricultural aspects. Free from their regular rou-tine work, the Thai citizens will find time to perform their annual rites of showing respect to their ancestors. The highlight of the festival will include the younger Thais paying respect to their elders by sprinkling their hands with scented water. And in order to welcome the New Year, the celebration will include the delightful colourful local entertainment, which in fact, suitably unites the mutual relationship between members of the family, society, nature and the surroundings. Therefore, this Songkran Festival has proved to be the most important and grandest festival of the year. Moreover, our neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Cam-bodia and Lao PDR. have also organised this type of festival.

During the Sukhothai period, the Songkran Festival was practised both in the royal court palace and among the ordinary citizens. However, the size of the celebration was not as elaborate as of today. Back in those days, civil servants and other government officials would pay homage to the king, and would drink the oath of allegiance to the king or the gov-ernment, while the king would provide an annual salary to all officials. Later on in the Ayut-thaya period, the festival was expanded by including the bathing of the Buddha image. Also, the festivities would include the forming of sand pagodas and entertaining celebrations. In the Rattanakosin period, the rituals have been conducted in a similar pattern as those during the Ayutthaya period.

The Queen

According to legend, this story involves King Kabilaprom and Prince Thammaban. Born to a wealthy family, Prince Thammaban was very intelligent since he was only seven years old, as King Kabilaprom asked him three questions with the conditions that if his an-swers were correct, King Kabilaprom was willing to sacrifice his head but if they were wrong, the Prince must do likewise. The questions focus on the good signs of a person at each period of the day from morning to noon until the evening. To the surprise of the King, the Prince answered the questions correctly. As per the good sign of a person in the morn-ing is at the face, at the chest at noon, and at the foot in the evening. The King then had to cut off his head as proposed. However, the Kings head was so powerful that the whole world would be on fire if the head touched the earth, a serious drought would occur and all the oceans water would dry up should it be thrown up in the sky or down in the ocean, respectively. Evidently, the King had assigned his seven angel daughters to take turns carry-ing his head clockwise around Phra Sumane Mountain. And if Songkran Day (13 April) falls on any day of the following, that year would be honoured by that Nang Songkran.

SUN DAY

TUE DAY WEDDAY nes THU DAY RS

MON DAY

FRI DAY SAT DAY tur

Red dress, preferred wild fruit, discus in the right hand, shell in the left hand, garuda as the vehicle.

Yellow dress with pearl ornaments, preferred butter oil, dagger in the right hand, walking cane in the left hand, tiger as the vehicle.

Light red dress with agate ornaments, preferred blood, trident in the right hand, arrow in the left hand, pig as the vehicle.

Emerald green dress with cats eye ornaments, preferred milk and butter, sharp iron in the right hand and walking cane in the left hand, donkey as the vehicle.

Greenish yellow dress with emerald ornaments, preferred nuts and sesame seeds, elephant hook in the right hand, gun in the left hand, elephant as the vehicle.

White dress with topaz ornament, preferred banana, dagger in the right hand, Indian vina in the left hand, buffalo as the vehicle.

Black dress with onyx ornaments, preferred hog deer, discus in the right hand, trident in the left hand, peacock as the vehicle.

Tungsatevee

Korakatevee

Ragsotevee

Montatevee

Kirineetevee

Kimitatevee

Mahotorntevee

Evidently, the prediction for the New Year will be made according to that particular day of the Nang Songkran. For example, if the preferred food of Miss Songkran is nuts and sesame seeds, it is predicted that the year will be productive, prosperous and healthy. And if the pre-ferred food is blood, the prediction would go for a bloody year with quarrels. And if Miss Songkran prefers to carry a gun, it is predicted that the weather would be full of thunderstorms, etc. Also, at the venue where the grand Songkran Festival is organized, a procession of the Miss Songkran is indispensable for the people to appreciate the festival.

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2012

SONGKARN FESTIVAL

2012, the Dragon Year, is a leap year which contains one additional year to the usual 365 days. This year, the start of Songkran Day is scheduled on Friday, March 13th at 7:46:12 pm, simultaneous with 8:04:12 pm Thai time. The beginning of the traditional Thai New Year is marked on Sunday, April 15th at 11:43:48 pm. The Songkran Goddess named Kimitha Thewi wears a splendid dress adorned with topaz, with a bracelet at-tached to the arm and a water lily to the ear. The food is water bananas. Her right hand carries a sword. Her left hand holds a Thai lute. The goddess lies down with the eyes open mounting on a water buf-falo as the vehicle. This year starts with Thursday, which is believed to attracts rains, drawing approximately 500 show-ers of rainfall. The 200 showers of the rain fall in the Sumeru mountain, 150 showers on the Himmavanta Forest, 100 showers on the ocean, and 50 showers on the Earth. This Dragon Year, 3 Naga Kings offer water, making the amount of rainfall massive at the beginning of the year, appropriate at the middle, and sparse at the end of the year.

T rad i t ions Songkran is the most special occasion among Thais. Traditionally, there are many act ivit ies to involved with al l family members and neighbors to get gather-ing such as:

Rod Nam Dum Hua ����������� (pouring scented water) The f irst day of Songkarn is off ic ial ly the nat ionaly elderly day. Young peo-ple would pour fragrant water into elders’ palms as a gesture of humility and to ask for their blessings. And again traditionally this would apply to people younger or the same age as you are with permission to pour fragrant water into their shoulder with blessing or even more water splashing if they are close friends.

Song Nam Pra ������� �� ( Bathing the Buddha image) The second day of Songkran is off icial ly the National Family Day. Famil ies would wake up early and give alms to the monks, then ideally the rest of the day would be spent sharing quality family time together. An important religious ritual on Songkran is ‘Bathing the Buddha image’, in which devout Buddhists pour fra-grant water over Buddha statues both at the temple and at home.

Gor Chedi sai ������������� ( building sand Chedi) In Thailand, people are very connected to Buddish and this ritual are totally related to the religious point of view. Thais believe that they have been taken many sand out of the temple each of their visits. So this ritual, they would taking the sand back to the temple and ask for forgive-ness to taking temple belonging with out permission. Some are said that this is the community strategy to building bonds among the local community.

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Water Wars Khao San Road If you asked around where to play water during Songkarn festival, almost everyone would sug-gested “Khao San road” as one of their first recommendation. Usually people will start to arrive as early as 9-10am for the soft core version of the water war and get more crowded as the time goes by and usually last till really late at night! How to get there : Phra Arthit pier Participating audiences : mixture of tourists and locals!

Silom Road At Silom Road is the most central, reachable place and could say the most crowded Songkarn in Bangkok. If you would like to come and play water here, you have to consider yourself to be fit. With the time wise is similar to Khaosan road but will be more crowded in the night as all the pick up trucks with water tanks will end up here at night and playing water till you drop! How to get there : BTS Saladaeng, MRT Lumpini Participating audiences : A lot of locals

Chok Chai 4 This is the spot for locals coming around with their pick up trucks and of course full of water tanks during the day before they move along to some other spots. Just a little bit of cautious warning that this spot has been reported of some violent in this area. How to get there : see the map below Participating audiences : Very local

Ratchada / RCA 13.761932,100.567072 / 13.752183,100.574856 From 6pm till 2am++ will be crowded by party goers playing water with the beats. Just the differ-ent style of any other place. How to get there : MRT Rama9/ Thailand cultural center Participating audiences : More locals

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13.758102,100.49904

13.729307,100.536264

13.794531,100.594618

RCA Ratchada

Conservative Option Phra Pradaeng — Samut Sakorn

If you prefer a more traditional Songkran, head over to Phra Pradaeng district where the Thai-Raman communities live out their Songkran traditions. Here, the celebrations take place about a week later than in central Bangkok and is filled with cultural significance. You will not only get splashed here, but also enjoy an array of cultural activities, such as the Thai-Raman flag ceremony, ‘saba’ game, Raman dances, boat races, floral floats parade, and many more.

When : 22-24 April 2012 How to get there : see the map below Participating audiences : very locals!

Pay Respects to nine Sacred Temples Wat Prakaeo. Motto: “Endless wealth and prosperity” Offerings: 3 incense sticks, 1 candle and flower. Wat Pho Motto: “Calmness is happiness” Offerings: 9 incense sticks, 2 candles , 11 piece of gold foil. Wat Bowornniwet Viharn. Motto: “Receive good things in life” Offerings: 9 incense sticks, 1 candle , 3 Lotus. Wat Saket ( Gold mount ) Motto: “Create good vision” Offerings: 9 incense sticks, 1 candle , 3 Lotus. Wat Arun (Temple of dawn ) Motto: “Have a prosperous life” Offerings: 3 incense sticks, 1 pair of candle. Wat Suthat Motto:“Broaden your vision and fascinate surrounding people” Offerings: 3 incense sticks, 1 candle. Wat Chanasongkram. Motto: “Conquer all obstacles” Offerings: 3 incense sticks, 1 candle. and 1 lotus for the principal Buddha image in the Chapel , 5 incense sticks , 1 candle, and 1 lotus for image of Somdej Krom Praratchawang Baworn. Wat Rakhang Motto: “To be admired and loved” Offerings: 3 incense sticks, 1 pair of candles , and gold foil. Wat Kanlayanamit . Motto: “Bon voyage” Offerings: 3 incense sticks, 1 pair of candles, and a garland.

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t he “GEARS” Usually you probably would l ike to dress with something that easi ly dries and is more comfy to walk around when wet. But you can go back and beyond with a bit more “traditional style” with this Hawai in-ish shirt which you probably can get every-where during Songkran season or check out this web……………

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Try not to take any valuable items with you. Normally I would suggest to keep ATM, phone, copy of your ID card and CASH. All of that in the water proof zip lock which would be available at con-venient stores near the major spots across the city.

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Thai fragrant water is the major part of Songkran tradi-tion. Thai people use fragrant water (Nam ob Thai) for bless-ing that would be good luck and prosperities in new coming year. It ’ l l be available across the city during this fest ive season. Otherwise you can visit their original store near the grand palace. 217 Mahachai Road, Sam-ranrad district, Bangkok .

Tel. +66-2221-5500

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