Fri 13 Apr 2007
Well, for the third time on my world tour, I’m celebrating a “New Year.” First it was the Roman calendar’s January 1st in Australia. Then it was the lunar New Year in Hong Kong (Kung Hei Fat Choi!) and Tet (Chuc Mong Na Moi!) inVietnam in mid-February. Now, in Thailand (as well as Cambodia, Laos, and Burma) it’s the solar New Year—Songkran. Traditionally it is celebrated when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries, but it is in fact the celebration of the vernal equinox. Up until 1940, this was the official New Years holiday in Thailand. Nowadays it is just tradition, though, as they too celebrate New Years Day on January 1st.
Traditionally, during the afternoon of the 13th, Buddha statues were bathed as part of the ceremony. Young people pour scented water into the hands of elders and parents as a mark of respect while. But now, it seems everyone takes to the streets in a complete water gun fight and super splash-down.
The Thai people celebrate this festival with water. Everyone gets soaking wet and since it is the hottest season of the year (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days), the custom is quite refreshing. People roam the streets with bowls of water, water guns or even a garden hose, and drench each other and passersby.
And, of course, in tourist-filled places like Phi Phi it has become quite a wet and wild tradition. On my way back from the port and my tour of the islands, it was a good thing I was wearing a bathing suit because I got soaked. So what did I do? Punched a hole in the top of my water bottle and retaliated, of course!
May 1st, 2007 at 9:18 am
That's it. I think we need to do something about New Year's day in Chicago. Since it's usually freezing at that time of year, the change will need to be drastic. In a very corporate way, consistent with our way of life, I propose that we change to a "Roman" fiscal year, with July 1 being our new New Year's Day. This way, we too can have a national wet T-shirt contest from Anchorage to Key West. At present, only those kooks who jump in Lake Michigan on Jan. 1, are celebrating. Seeing those full figured, brandy snooted, very hairy boys jump into the icy water does nothing for our national image. The Thai approach seems to be the better way. Happy New Year again Carmen San Diego! Is this the last one or will we need to keep Champagne on ice all year?