Celebrating Songkran

I was in Chiang Mai from 11-15 April 2012, just at the period of the Songkran festival –or, the Thai New Year. This is the time of year when the Thais seek the blessings of Buddha, by pouring water over the Buddha statues. It is also the time of year when the streets of Chiang Mai turn into an all-out water fight!

We spent our first day in Chiang Mai quite  blamelessly, wandering around the night market and taking in the atmosphere in the cool of the evening. The next day, we started off (relatively) early, to visit some wats before the day got too hot. As we visited the wats, we saw the Thais coming to the temple, to seek blessings at this auspicious time. Some offered flowers to the Buddha, was others sought blessings (they put these “blessing flags” into big “stupas of sand” which were in auspicious places in the wat compound).

But as we walked from wat to wat, we noticed increasingly the presence of the water brigades on the streets. These fell largely into two categories: young children, generally stationed outside their homes; and tourists, who went prowling around looking for potential victims. We were carrying our umbrellas (against the sun, like typical Asians) but they did double duty to shield us from water attacks as well! And where they did not – well, it was pleasant to have some cool water on a hot day. And it evaporated really quickly, too. But to be fair,  my legs got sprayed at as the combatants tended to respect the "unarmed".

It did not take long, however, for the “Songkran spirit” to affect us more deeply, particularly my dear travelling companion (my cousin). In fact, she startled me considerably by deciding to buy her own Doraemon water gun from one of the street vendors, to join in the fun! Of course, anyone carrying a gun immediately became a major target (far more than people carrying umbrellas) and a guy with dreadlocks gave her a good drenching with his big water-bazooka.

The next day (13 April), however, was when the blessing of the Buddhas took place in earnest. We started the morning with a session at the hotel itself. The hotel’s Buddha statue was placed under their 200-year old Tamarind tree. Flowers and a small holder of the Songkran blessing flags surrounded it. Guests were invited to pour water over the Buddha. There were also a few special guests who sat in chairs by the tree and they too got water poured over their hands, as a blessing.

In the afternoon, the Buddha statues from various wats were then paraded through the city. We stood by the gate, waiting. But we were not alone. The hotel had put two largish tanks of water in front (topped up continuously with a hose). All the hotel guests were there too, really taking part in the water fights with gusto. No tuk-tuk, taxi nor motorbike passed without them letting loose to give the unfortunate driver and  passengers a good drenching. Sometimes, the people on the vehicles (or passers-by) fought back. Many came in trucks which huge tanks of water on board, with a crew of people armed with water guns, pails etc giving as good as they got. Our side had numbers, though, as it seemed that most of the hotel guests were there. There was a little boy amongst the group (don’t think he was a hotel guest just a kid who wanted a good source of water) and he was a particularly active participant. Again, my dear cousin could not resist. Toting her Doraemon gun, she walked behind the front lines. But she only retaliated or took revenge on people who gave her a splash.

Finally, the time arrived and the procession came down the road. The Thai people, including the shopkeepers started appearing on the streets. They too carried cups and little pails, but jasmine flowers had been added to the water, so that the Buddha statues would be bathed in this scented water. Most of the statues were preceded by pretty Thai girls in traditional dress, carrying signs, or men bearing fruit sculptures, or older ladies bearing the fruits of the field. I was at first a little shocked when I saw the Thais pouring water on the procession participants. Then I realised that this was indeed part of the event, as the water was not splashed in their faces (at least not that I saw) but ceremonially poured on their shoulders.

The first Buddha statue was that from Wat Pra Shing, and hence is known as the Pra Shing Buddha. Unlike most of the other Buddha statues, he was pulled along on a golden carriage - people on the roadside often joined in too, at least for a few steps -  and accompanied by two young men. As the statue was so high up, the bystanders had no choice but to fling the water up as high as they could. Typically a few men were standing around the statue, and they would also scoop out the water and ladle it back in the empty cups which were held up to them. Ah…. Indeed, the water would be more “precious” now that it had touched the statue! But the men around the statues were completely soaked through.

We did not time our visit to Chiang Mai with the Songkran period (it was a coincidence). But am indeed glad I did, for it allowed us the opportunity to witness the Thais celebrating one of their major festivals.

I was also glad that we had the opportunity to see more than the water fights, to recognise that this New Year was a period of renewal, of washing away the past year and starting the New Year afresh.

For more photos of Songkran and Chiang Mai, check out my Flickr set.

Postscript: On the morning of 13 April, we heard and saw helicopters in the air, circling overhead. We speculated as to what this could mean. The next day’s newspapers made all clear – Yingluck Shinawatra was back in her hometown of Chiang Mai to celebrate Songkran, giving alms to monks in the morning and taking part in the blessing of the procession in the afternoon (the newspaper reports that she got splashed too!).

Post-postscript: Got really drenched on the way back from church on our last day in Chiang Mai. Of course, this was just before we were going to the airport which meant that we had to have an entire change of clothes (good thing we bought t-shirts at the bazaar the night before).