In Bangkok, celebrate the New Year

Festival "Songkran" symbolizes the beginning of the Thai New Year. On this day, according to tradition, all pour water on each other, as well as wash the Buddha figure.





Songkran is one of the oldest festivals in Thailand and symbolizes the change of the year, according to the Hindu calendar astrologers. Talking about the change of the year, we mean the end of the cold season and the beginning of the hot season. For Thailand, there is the four seasons. There are only three: the cold season, the hot season and the rainy season. Participants of the festival put a specific meaning in the process of pouring water. Washing symbolizes cleansing from everything bad that has accumulated over the past year.











Besides water, the participants also used talc and white clay, which, like talc, in ancient times was a means of hygiene.



































Photo: Reuters, AP