Every year between April 13th and 16th, Thailand celebrates Songkran or Thai New Year. It is also referred to as the 'Water Festival", due to the huge part water plays in the festivities. Thailand now uses a Western calendar and marks the New Year on December 31st, but the old Thai calendar was based on lunar cycles and the first day of the New Year was the 13th of April. Although celebrated throughout the country, the northern city of Chiang Mai sees particularly enthusiastic participation.
Many rituals and celebrations take place during the festival. These may be as simple as visiting the local temple to make offerings of food and clothing to the monks. Sometimes friends will exchange string to tie around one another's wrists. This must be left to fall off and signifies wishes for good fortune in the New Year.
Often elders will be found roaming with a bowl of white powder or paste. This will be applied to the face and neck to ward off evil spirits, but the most recognizable ritual of Songkran is the sprinkling, splashing and spraying of water.
There are 3 different aspects to the use of water in the festival. Firstly, a gentle sprinkle of water over the head may be used as a blessing. A more liberal dousing can signify a wish for rain during the next year and a successful rice crop. Full scale drenching is generally reserved to wash away bad luck. But seriously, it is not that regimented. People roam the street having much fun spraying all in their path. Farang (foreign people), get a good splashing as well. The local fire truck sometimes gets an outing to help along the festivities.
Unfortunately, as celebrations have become more voracious around the turn of the Twentieth Century, accidents such as drowning and electrocution have been on the increase. Sadly 375 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries were reported during the 2001 festival.