Songkran

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Songkran
Official nameDifferent names denote the festival across South and Southeast Asia
Regional names
  • သင်္ကြန် (Burmese)
  • មហាសង្ក្រាន្ត (Khmer)
  • ປີໃໝ່ (Lao)
  • 泼水节 (Mandarin)
  • संक्रांति (Sanskrit)
  • අලුත් අවුරුද්ද (Sinhalese)
  • มหาสงกรานต์ (Thai)
Also calledSoutheast Asian New Year
Observed by Burmese, Cambodian, Dais, Laotians, Thais, Bangladeshis (CHT), Sri Lankans, Tai Dam and certain ethnic groups of northeast India
SignificanceMarks the new year
DateGenerally 13–15 April
2024 dateGenerally 13–15 April
FrequencyAnnual
Related to Mesha Sankranti
Songkran celebrations
Songkran in Wat Kungthapao 03.jpg
Paying respects to elders is important in many Songkran celebrations, such as those in Songkran Thailand.
Rakhine Thingyan 2011.jpeg
As Thingyan in Myanmar; water throwing is a cleansing ritual of many Songkran celebrations.
Khmer New Year GA2010-223.jpg
As Choul Chnam Thmey in Cambodia; pouring water on Buddha is important in SE Asia. Often known as blessing in Cambodia
Erythrina fusca 3689.jpg
As Aluth Avuruddu in Sri Lanka; the blossoming of the Erythrina fusca symbolizes the advent of the New Year in Sri Lanka.
Lao New Year, flour throwing.jpg
As Pii Mai in Laos.
Ancestor altar.JPG
Ancestor altars are common during New Year celebrations in Cambodia and Thailand.
Songkran celebrations involve a variety of diverse traditions practiced in the many countries and regions that celebrate the traditional New Year festival

Songkran is the water-splashing festival celebration of Tai peoples [1] in traditional new year for Buddhist calendar widely celebrated across South and Southeast Asia in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, parts of northeast India, parts of Vietnam and Xishuangbanna, China [2] [3] begins on 13th April of the year.

Contents

Etymology

The word Songkran [4] or Songkrant [5] (outdated Thai form), is a Thai word [6] or Siamese word, [7] as contractive word in Thai forms of Sangkran [8] (sim kranti), which derived from the Sanskrit word, [9] saṅkrānti (or, more specifically, meṣha saṅkrānti) [10] or Pali, Saṅkhāra . [11] It begins when the sun transits the constellation of Aries, the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, as reckoned by sidereal astrology. [12] It is related to the equivalent Hindu calendar-based New Year festivals in most parts of South Asia which are collectively referred to as Mesha Sankranti .

The word Songkran written in different languages such as Laos people and Lanna people written as Sangkhan which derived from Pali [13] . Tai Lue people written as Sangxaan [14] . Shan people and upper Burma people written as Sangkyan [15] . In Cambodia, written as Maha Sangkran [16] , Moha Sangkran [17] or Sangkran (same as Mon people and Thai.) [18] , also written in French as Mahasang Krane [19] which being translated from Pali to French in 1908 by Léon Faraut, son of Félix Gaspard Faraut, a French engineer who worked on the plan of Saigon colonial and accompanied Louis Delaporte in his exploration of Angkor. And in Burmese written as Thingyan [20] .

Songkran in Sanskrit forms, written as Vishuva Sankranti, which marked the beginning of the New Year in the Odisha calendar and referred to the sun on midday has equally orbited in the day and night, was found in Thailand at these locations;

Songkran in Thai forms which being still used to present, however, the meaning is still same as Vishuva Sankranti and also referred to as Mesha Sankranti which can be found in;

The word Songkran not only can be found those Thai archaeological evidences, but also being recorded by foreigners who ever lived in Thailand. Its meaning especially marked the beginning of Songkran festival, holidays, water-splashing and Siamese new year observances different the meaning of the Sanskrit word, saṅkrānti which can be found in these contemporary archives;

Also found in these Thai contemporary archives;

The other spelling of the word Songkran written as Sangken or Sangkran, [40] found in archive of Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti (Assam Research Society) recorded by the oldest Research institution in North-East India mentions the Tai New Year’s festival or Water spraying festival of Tai peoples in Northeast India.

History

Songkran New Year Festivals

Festivities outside of Asia

Australia

Songkran celebrations are held in many parts of the country. One of the most notable celebrations is at the Wat Pa Buddharangsee Buddhist Temple in the Sydney suburb of Leumeah, New South Wales. The festival attracts thousands of visitors each year and involves a water fight, daily prayer, dance performances and food stalls which serve food of Thai, Bangladesh (CHT), Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian, Sri Lankan and Malaysian origin. [43] [44] In 2014, the celebration was attended by more than 2000 people. [45] Similarly in the same suburb, the Mahamakut Buddhist Foundation organizes a Songkran celebration featuring chanting, blessing, a short sermon, a fund raising food fete and Southeast Asian traditional dances. [46] Large scale Thai New Year (Songkran) celebrations are held in Thai Town, Sydney in the popular tourist suburb of Haymarket, New South Wales. [47] In Melbourne, the Sinhalese (Sri Lankan) New Year festival is held annually in Dandenong, Victoria. [48] In 2011, it attracted more than 5000 people and claims to be the largest Sinhalese New Year Festival in Melbourne. [49] The Queen Victoria Market held a two-day Songkran event celebrating the Thai New Year in early April 2017. [50] Songkran celebrations celebrating the Thai, Cambodian, Lao, Burmese and Sri Lankan New Year festivals are well known and popular among the residents of the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, New South Wales which is home to large populations of Cambodians, Laotians and Thais. [51] Temples and organisations hold celebrations across the suburb including a large Lao New Year celebration in the neighbouring suburb of Bonnyrigg organised in partnership with the Fairfield City Council. [52] [53] In the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, Victoria a Lunar New Year celebration initially focusing on the Vietnamese New Year has expanded into a celebration of the Songkran celebrations of the Thais, Cambodians, Laotians and other Asian Australian communities such as Chinese who celebrate the New Year in either January/February or April. [54] Taronga Zoo in Sydney, New South Wales celebrated the Thai New Year in April 2016 with its Asian elephants and traditional Thai dancers. [55]

United States

Songkran celebrations often occur in cities which host large Sri Lankan, Thai, Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian populations. The UW Khmer Student Association hosts a new year celebration at the University of Washington in Seattle. The White Center Cambodian New Year Street Festival is held at the Golden House Bakery & Deli in Seattle. [56] The Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara in Pasadena, California celebrates the Songkran festival with a focus on the Sri Lankan New Year. The Brahma Vihara in Azusa, California also holds celebrations with a Burmese New Year focus. [57] The International Lao New Year Festival is held annually in San Francisco and celebrates the Lao New Year with acknowledgment of other Asian communities, Thai, Cambodian, Burmese, Sri Lankan and the Dai people of southern China, who also celebrate the same festival. [58] In February 2015, the Freer and Sackler gallery in Washington D.C. held a Lunar New Year event celebrating the "Year of the Sheep" which also celebrated the Lunar New Year that occurs in mid-April for many other Asian countries. It included activities, information and food from China, Korea, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries that celebrated either of the two new year celebrations. [59] Similarly in 2016, The Wing in Seattle held a Lunar New Year celebration centered around the East Asian Lunar New Year however also focused on New Year customs in Laos as part of its "New Years All Year Round" exhibit. [60]

On April 2, 2024, The legislative assembly of New York State, adopted legislative bill of Commemorating the Asian American community's celebration of Songkran on April as an important cultural event on the state as Assembly Resolution No. 1059 [61] :-

Songkran is Thailand's most famous festival; this water festival marks the beginning of the traditional Thai New Year [62]

The legislative assembly of New York State, Assembly Resolution No. 1059, The New York State Senate. (April 2, 2024).

Notes

    See also

    Related Research Articles

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    The Mon are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta, and several areas in Thailand. The native language is Mon, which belongs to the Monic branch of the Austroasiatic language family and shares a common origin with the Nyah Kur language, which is spoken by the people of the same name that live in Northeastern Thailand. A number of languages in Mainland Southeast Asia are influenced by the Mon language, which is also in turn influenced by those languages.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayutthaya Kingdom</span> 1350–1767 Siamese kingdom

    The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Mon and later Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. European travellers in the early 16th century called Ayutthaya one of the three great powers of Asia. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is considered to be the precursor of modern Thailand, and its developments are an important part of the history of Thailand.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Songkran (Thailand)</span> Traditional Thai New Years holiday

    Thai New Year or Songkran, also known as Songkran Festival, Songkran Splendours, is the Thai New Year's national holiday. Songkran is on 13 April every year, but the holiday period extends from 14 to 15 April. In 2018 the Thai cabinet extended the festival nationwide to seven days, 9–16 April, to enable citizens to travel home for the holiday. In 2019, the holiday was observed 9–16 April as 13 April fell on a Saturday. and with the New Year of many calendars of Southeast and South Asia, in keeping with the Buddhist calendar and also coincides with New Year in Hindu calendar such as Vishu, Bihu, Pohela Boishakh, Pana Sankranti, Vaisakhi. The New Year takes place at around the same time as the new year celebrations of many regions of South Asia like China, India, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Narathiwat province</span> Province of Thailand

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Water Festival</span> New Year celebration in Southeast Asia

    The Water Festival is the New Year's celebrations that take place in Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia as well as among the Xishuangbanna Prefecture of China, and the southern parts of Vietnam. It is part of the broader South and Southeast Asian solar New Year. It is called the 'Water Festival' by Westerners because they notice people splashing or pouring water at one another as part of the cleansing ritual to welcome the Songkran New Year. Traditionally, people gently sprinkled water on one another as a sign of respect, but as the new year falls during the hottest month in South East Asia, many people end up dousing strangers and passers-by in vehicles in boisterous celebration. The act of pouring water is also a show of blessings and good wishes. It is believed that at this Water Festival, everything old must be thrown away, or it will bring the owner bad luck.

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      • Reena Marwah. (2020). Reimagining India-Thailand Relations: A Multilateral And Bilateral Perspective. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. 320 pp. p. 72. ISBN   978-981-1-21205-5. "Songkran Festival The Sankranti, or astrological (solar) New Year"
    10. Sir W. M. Jones, Asiatic Society (Kolkata, India). (1869). "The Adjustment of the Hindu Calendar; by Babu Pratapachandra Ghosha.", Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol. XXXVII (Part II.–Physical Sciense, No. IV.–1868). Kolkata, India: Asiatic Society of Bengal. p. 188.
      • SEWELL, R., Gustav Schram, R., and Sankara Balkrishna Dikshit. (1896). "Years and Cycles", The Indian Calendar with Tables for the Conversion of Hindu and Muhammadan into A.D. Dates, and vice versa. LONDON: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd. 169 pp. pp. 9, 25–31.
      • Swamikannu Pillai, Dewan Bahadur L. D. (Lewis Dominic). (1911). Indian Chronology (solar, Lunar and Planetary): A Practical Guide to the Interpretation and Verification of Tithis, Nakshatras, Horoscopes and other Indian Time-records. B.C. 1 TO A.D. 2000. NJ: Grant & Co., Madras. 347 pp. p. 10.
    11. Yavaprapas, S., Ministry of Culture (Thailand). (2004). Songkran Festival. (2rd Ed.). Bangkok: Ministry of Culture (Thailand). 95 pp. pp. 20-22. ISBN   978-974-7-10351-9. "Songkran is "to progress". Sanskrit in origin, the word can also be taken to mean that "to set up" The original word "Sankranti" in Sanskrit or "Sankhara" in Pali."
    12. "The Origins of the Songkran Festival". Archived from the original on 2016-12-08. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
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    27. The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (SAC). (2007). Inscriptions: Wat Phra That Choeng Chum, Epigraph Line 11. Bangkok: SAC. cited in Inscriptions in Thailand Database Project Staffs (2555 B.E.), SAC., and Khom Script, 15th-16th Buddhist century. Bangkok: The National Library of Thailand, NLT, 2529, pp. 284-286. "จำมลกฺรานฺต นุ ชา ปี ทุกฺ นา องฺคุยฺ". (Epigraph), "แด่สงกรานต์ และไว้ประจำแก่". (Translation).
    28. พระราชพงศาวดารกรุงเก่าฉบับหลวงประเสริฐ [The Royal Chronicle of Krung Sri Ayutthaya, the edition of Luang Prasoet (in English)]. (20th Ed.). Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department of Thailand, 1986. 78 pp. ISBN   978-974-9-94331-1
    29. Royal Society of Thailand. (2007). The Journal of The Royal Society of Thailand, 32(1–2), (2007, January–June). p 414.
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    31. Engelbert Kaempfer, John Gaspar Scheuchzer and Sir Hans Sloane. (1727). De Beschryving van Japan. Door ENGELBERT KÆMPFER, M.D. Geneesheer van bet Hollandſche... (Translated by John Gaspar Scheuchzer). Netherlands: Gosse en J. Neaulme. 550 pp. p. 29. "Behalven deze hebben zy fommige jaarlykſche plechtige Feeſtdagen, by voorbeeld een in ’t begin van 't jaar, genaamt Sonkraen, een ander Kitimbac genoemt, ook wel Ktimbac, ..."
      • "Songkran" (noun) in Oxford English Dictionary (Online) . Retrieved on 17 April 2024. cited in Engelbert Kaempfer. (1727). The history of Japan: giving an account of the ancient and present state and government of that empire (translated by John Gaspar Scheuchzer). "They [sc. the Siamites] have besides several yearly solemn festivals, as for instance, at the beginning of the year, call'd Sonkraen [Ger. Sonkraan]."
      • The Fine Art Department of Thailand. (2002). Thai nai chodhmaihet kaempfer [ไทยในจดหมายเหตุแกมป์เฟอร์ (in Thai)]. (5th Ed.) Bangkok: Arthit Communication. 99 pp. ISBN   974-419-467-7. p. 97. "นอกจากนี้ ยังมีพิธีประจำปีอีกหลายอย่าง เช่น พิธีซึ่งทำเมื่อขึ้นปีใหม่เรียกว่าสงกรานต์ (Sonkraen)"
    32. Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix. (1850). "Utendum est ส in sequentibus", Grammatica Linguæ Thai, AUCTORE D. J. BAPT. PALLEGOIX EPISCOPO MALLENSI VICARIO APOSTOLICO SIAMENSI. Ex typographià collegii Assumptionis B. M. V. in civitate rcgià Krüng Thèph mahá nàkhon sí Ajùthâja, vulgó. BANGKOK: Anno Domini. p. 7 "สีห ปราช สงกรานต, Sí prãt sôngkran"
    33. Jean Baptiste Pallegoix (Bp. of Mallos). (1854). "ส—S", สัพะ พะจะนะ พาสา ไท DICTIONARIUM LINGUÆ THAĭ. SIVE SIAMENSIS, INTERPRETATIONE LATINA, GALLICA ET ANGLICA illustratum MDCCCLIV. PARISIIS: Jussu Umperatoris Impressum. p. 751 "สงกรานต์. SONGKRAN. Ad alium locum pergere; angelus qui praesidere anno. Aller dans un autre endroit; ange qui préside à l'année, To go to another place; angel preside over the year."
    34. Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix. (1854). Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam. Lagny, France: Vialat et Cie. p. 249. "Ils ont en outre, durant le cours de l’année, plusieurs jours de fêtes civiles ou religieuses, qu’ils célèbrent avec grande pompe : 1°Songkran; c’est leur nouvel an, qui tombe ordinairement dans leur cinquième mois; on le célèbre pendant trois jours; ce n’est qu’à cette époque que le peuple apprend des astro-logues, si l’ange de l’année monte un tigre, un bœuf,-un ours, un cheval; une chèvre, un dragon ou quelque autre animal."
    35. Gray, John Henry. (1879). "Chapter V.: SIAM", A Journey Round the World in the Years 1875-1876-1877. LONDON: Harrison and Sons. 612 pp. p. 137. "This privilege is exercised by the people during the festivals, which are respectively termed the Chinese new year, the Siamese new year, and Songkran."
    36. Jacob T. Child, Col. (1892). "SONGKRAN HOLIDAYS", The Pearl of Asia: Reminiscences of the Court of a Supreme Monarch; Or, Five Years in Siam. CHICAGO: Donohue, Henneberry & Co. 339 pp. pp. 263.
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    38. Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. (2015). The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen Abridged Version. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. 380 pp. ISBN   978-163-1-02960-8 "Songkran, the new year, all of Suphan came to Wat Pa Leli to make merit by building sand stupas around the grounds."
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