Being Upheld: Song Kran Festival

J getting his start to the day early
Happy New Year! During the second week of April, our country celebrates their new year with a water splashing festival called "Songkran." The celebration lasts for three days. Most of the water activity takes place around the city's moat. They use the water from the moat to soak anyone who walks by. People fill up buckets and trash cans with water. Some of the water is clean, but the majority is from the moat. Some of the water had ice in it, while other buckets have color in it that shows up on cars. The water is thrown from the back of pick-up trucks as well as people on the sidewalk with buckets and super-soaker squirt guns.

Getting our buckets ready
This festival is also a time where the locals cleanse themselves of their sins for the year. They attend many washing ceremonies where they wash their hands and a Buddha statue while asking for cleansing and forgiveness for everything they did during the previous year. They view it as a symbol of good luck and a new start for the upcoming year.

Throwing the water on cars
We gathered together a group of friends to have a little fun in the sun and water. We loaded up in the back of a pick-up truck and headed off to the moat. We live only 5 minutes from there. Traffic was very heavy and slow moving. The boys had a great time throwing water on anyone they saw, but when it came time to receive the water back it was not so much fun. The water is coming so fast you can’t see anything. It burns your eyes! Most of the time, you are drenched with ice cold water. People filled barrels with water and then put in an ice chunk as big as a cooler. It chills the water very quickly. Needless to say, we didn’t last too long and can’t quite figure out why they love it so much. But we saw people of all ages, so grandmas and grandpas you aren't excluded from all the fun!