Thailand's Songkran Festival

 

Songkran, Thailand’s New Year’s holiday, is on April 13, 2025 and is celebrated for three days.  The holiday aligns with other calendars in South and Southeast Asia that follow the Buddhist and Hindu calendars. Traditions include sprinkling water on images of Buddha and younger people pouring water on elderly relatives as a sign of respect and good fortune for the upcoming year. Honoring family traditions and religious practices are important elements of Songkran, but having fun is also essential to the holiday. Songkran celebrations are famous for street parties with loud music and giant public water fights that symbolize purification of the misfortunes from the previous year, and blessings for happiness and renewal in the year to come. 

In 2023, the UN included Songkran on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The UN inscribed Songkran based on the holiday promoting “community cooperation, unity and forgiveness… [reuniting] family members, and honoring ancestors and older adults…By emphasizing the importance of older adults and of family, Songkran helps to combat loneliness and social isolation.”

Celebrate Songkran:

• Attend the San Jose Learning Center’s Songkran Celebration
• Attend the San Francisco Dhammaram Temple’s Songkran Festival
• Read about Nam Ob Thai, the scented water featured in Songkran
• See Getty Images photographs of Songkran
• Learn how to make khao chae, a Thai dish traditionally eaten during warm weather

 

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