A Sanklaburi Songkran

 Our time in Sanklaburi to help move the Kwai River mission station happened to coincide with the annual Songkran holiday. Songkran is famous as a giant, days-long water fight in much of the country, and particularly, in Chiang Mai. Traditionally, Songkran marks the start of a new year, based on a solar calendar. Agriculturally, mid-April is after the rice harvest and prior to the next planting season. So it is a relatively slow season and thus, a good time to have a holiday. Mid-April is also the hottest, driest time of the year so getting doused with water is not necessarily unwelcome.

Songkran was not always a water fight. Originally, water might be gently poured over the hands of another person as kind of a blessing or maybe sprinkled gently on a person. Somewhere along the line, the volume of the water increased along with the enthusiasm with which the “blessing” was administered until the holiday morphed into the water fight we have today.

People lining up along the metal trough
preparing to pour water in it to bless monks
sitting at the lower end.

In Sanklaburi though, we witnessed a different twist on the water blessing. Maybe it is common throughout the country, but we only saw it this one time. A long trough was made out of metal, corrugated roofing sheets. Buddhist monks would sit at the bottom end of the trough. People would line up all along the trough and pour water into it. The water would collect and flow down the tough until it poured out on the monks. This allowed a large number of people to “bless” the monks at the same time and, by “blessing” the monks, the people “made merit” (i.e. earned some credit for doing good, which might offset some sin they had committed or otherwise improve their station in the next life).

Monks walking on the back of people for
healing and to "make merit".

People would also kneel down on all fours and let monks walk on their backs. This was also a way for
the people to make merit and some were hoping the monks walking on their backs would be healing for their aching back or help with general health issues.

Though it seems I neglected to take photos, I also remember a Thailand style bull fight at this Songkran festival. No matadors involved, a Thai style bull fight is two bulls head butting and gouging each other. It was an awesome display of size, strength and power and more than a little scary. Of course there was lots of drinking, cheering, jeering and gambling associated with the bull fight. I understand this kind of bull fighting is more common in Southern Thailand and it was the only time we saw it during our years there.