Songkran Festival

The 13th of April marks Songkran Day, the celebration of the Thai New Year and the biggest festival of the year in Thailand. Songkran takes place at the hottest time of year, right in the heat of the Thai summer. Although Thais now recognize the 31st of December/1st of January as the shift to a new year they still celebrate the Thai New Year with pleasure.

The festival has a lot of deep set Buddhist traditions which include visiting the temple and giving offerings of food to the monks as well as paying respects to elders in the family and community. It is also a time of cleansing and purification to prepare for the new year ahead which is the reason why water is used.

Nowadays the festival is marked with hard core water play. Armed with water pistols, and huge buckets of water, Thais and visitors take to the streets to "purify" themselves and keep cool at this brutal time of year. It has become popular to fill the backs of pickup trucks with water and family members and spend the day driving around and soaking people (and getting soaked in return). Others opt to stand by the side of the road spraying and soaking those that pass by.

This is always a great time of year for GVI's volunteers who have the opportunity to join the community in a fun day, stay cool and learn a bit about Thai culture. GVI's volunteers and staff joined the crowds, armed with water pistols and spent the day wet.

Songkran Festival