Origin of Songkran in Thailand

Introduction

The water festival marks the new year in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Yunnan. This festival is called by different names in different countries but the date is the same which starts when the sun enters the astrological sign Aries and is celebrated for a duration of three to four days.

Water splashing in Cambodia

Khmer empire

Originally, the Khmer New Year which is called Chaul Chnam began on the first day of first month in the Khmer lunar calendar either in November or December.

In the 12th century, a Khmer king Jayavarman VII changed the date to the month where the sun enters Aries in the solar calendar which typically falls on 13 April.

King Jayavarman VII and Angkor Wat

The reason was that most Khmer people were farmers and the period from November to March was the busiest period to harvest the crops from the rice fields. Khmer people could find free time to celebrate in April because there is no rain and the weather is very hot.

The other reason was the Khmer king was also influenced by his son Tamalinda who went to Sri Lanka to study the Buddhist scriptures in 1180-1190 AD. The Sri Lankan Buddhists also celebrate their New Year on this date.

Cambodian New Year celebration

Thailand and Laos

In Thailand and Laos, the festival is called Songkran which is from a Sanskrit word saṃkrānti literally means 'astrological passage' referring to the sun changing its astrological sign. Thailand and Laos were part of the Khmer empire before its collapse.

The ethnic Tai adopted this festival of the Mon-Khmer natives starting from the Sukhothai period -(1238-1438) when the government officials would pay homage to the king. Later during the Ayutthaya period (1351–1767), this festival was expanded by including the bathing of Buddha statues.

Bathing a Buddha statue

Myanmar

In Myanmar, the New Year is called Thingyan. Like the ethnic Tai in Thailand, the ethnic Bamar also adopted the religion and culture of the native Mon-Khmer sometimes after they conquered southern Myanmar.

In ancient times, just a few drops of water would be sprinkled on a person to symbolize purification. However, in modern times, this celebration has developed into water splashing of each other for goodwill and to cool down during the hot weather.

Water splashing in Myanmar

China

The ethnic Dai (傣族) in Xishuangbanna, China also practises this festival but the festival is called water-splashing festival. China has a park in Ganlanba (橄欖壩) that is specially built for this event.

Entrance to Dai Minority Park

Water splashing square inside the park

China's ethnic Dai holding bowls of water

Conclusion

This festival originated from the ancient Khmer empire which included Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and southern Myanmar. It was erroneously called the 'Buddhist New Year' by most media ignorant of the origin due to the fact that most of the people living in these four countries are Buddhists.

However, other Buddhists such as Tibetans and Bhutanese celebrate their New Year on the first day of first lunar month which typically falls in January or February. Rather, the origin of this festival came from the ancient Khmer New Year.

Sources

https://mekong.co/featured/khmer-new-year.html
http://songkran2014.com/songkran-history/

East Asian origin, history, language, culture

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