Songkran Festival

The Thai New Year (สงกรานต์ Songkran) is celebrated every year on 13 April to 15 April. It is also celebrated in Laos (called pi mai lao or 'Lao New Year' in Lao), Cambodia, Myanmar (where it is called Thingyan), and by the Dai people in Yunnan, China. Sri Lanka also celebrates a similar festival called Sinhalese and Tamil New Year on the same dates.

The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year, at the end of the dry season.
Probably you don’t know, but until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand; thereafter 1st April was used until 1940.

Now, as elsewhere, the 1st January is the beginning of the year and Songkran has been a national holiday since then.

Songkran, a Sanskrit word, means the entry of the sun into any sign of the Zodiac, in this particular instance, in Aries or the Ram. Its full name is Maha Songkran or Major Songkran to distinguish it from the other ones.

The most obvious celebration during these days is the throwing of water. People roam the streets with containers of water or water guns, or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby.

Traditionally Songkran was the time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends and neighbors. Besides the throwing of water, people celebrating Songkran may also go to a wat (Buddhist temple) to pray and give food to monks. They may also cleanse Buddha images from household shrines as well as Buddha images at monasteries by gently pouring water mixed with a Thai fragrance (น้ำอบไทย) over them. It is believed that doing this will bring good luck and prosperity for the New Year. The water is meant as a symbol of washing all of the bad away.

Songkran is a time for cleaning and renewal.

So… enjoy and สวัสดีปีใหม่ (sa-wat-di pi mai), "Happy New Year".

Cheated in Love?

FROM: Bangkok Post

Police in Khon Kaen raided two firms offering match-making services after allegations of swindling women looking for foreign partners.
The police team raided the Thai Publuk and Thai Zury companies in Muang district in the province of Khon Kaen which provide online match-making services for Thai women wanting to find foreign partners.
The raid followed complaints by more than 50 northeastern women, who claimed they had been deceived by the firms, which promised to find foreign husbands for them.
They claimed the firms failed to honor agreements.
The correspondence and online match-making service lasted two months and each woman was paid 5,000 baht to the firms.
If the two sides wanted to meet, the firms would arrange places for them to see each other face to face. The meeting places included Suvarnabhumi airport and other tourist venues.
If the two sides agreed to marry, they had to pay 50,000 baht to the service providers. The firm would also get 10 per cent of any dowry money.
Police had been unable to act against the firms earlier because women had not filed charges. Many felt they would be embarrassed if their stories were made public.

Wat Pho historic listing

Wat Pho marble inscriptions given historic listing by Unesco
FROM Bangkok Post

The historic marble inscriptions in Phra Chetupon Wimolmangkhalaram temple, or Wat Pho, in Bangkok have been registered with Unesco's Memory of the World (MOW) for Asia and the Pacific region.
The committee will send an official letter notifying Thailand of the recognition, and the MOW national committee will present the letter to Wat Pho's abbot, Phra Thampanyabodi, on March 31, the anniversary of King Rama III's death.
On that day, Wat Pho will hold a grand merit-making ceremony in honour of King Rama III, who commissioned the inscription of the country's religious and secular knowledge, including Thai ''hermit'' yoga postures, on 1,360 marble plates in the 1830s .
Wat Pho was built during the Ayutthaya period on the orders of King Rama I. King Rama III commissioned a major renovation of the temple.
He instructed that Thai knowledge ranging from Buddhist precepts, literary works, traditional medicine and yoga postures, believed to have been developed by hermits, be inscribed in marble around the ceremonial hall and nearby pavilions.
This was the first attempt at pooling the art and science wisdom of the Thai people of the time, after Thailand had lost her sovereignty to Burma at the end of the Ayutthaya period.
In those days, the temple also served as an education centre where educated people gathered to discuss their knowledge and exchanged opinions.
Nowadays, Wat Pho is famous for its gigantic reclining Buddha statue and the Thai traditional medicine and massage clinic. A school has also been established inside the temple compound.