Feel free and invited to discover and share cultural customs and buddhist realtion to the main folk festival in Thailand.
This year (2013 / 2556-2557 BC) the Devas of the new year will arrive on 14.4 at 2:24 in the morning.
Fühlen Sie sich eingeladen Kulturbräuche und ihre Buddhistische Verbindung für das wichtigste Folksfest in Thailand zu teilen und zu erforschen.
Dieses Jahr (2013 / 2556-2557 BC) werden die Devas des Neuen Jahres um am 14.4. um 2:24 Morgens erwartet.
Info wiki :
The Songkran festival (Thai: สงกรานต์ (Pronunciation), Khmer: សង្រ្កាន្ត; from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti,[1] or literally "astrological passage") is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 16 April. It coincides with the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia.
The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed. If these days fall on a weekend, the missed days off are taken on the weekdays immediately following. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand; thereafter 1 April was used until 1940. 1 January is now the beginning of the year. The traditional Thai New Year has been a national holiday since then.
Songkran has traditionally been celebrated as the New Year for many centuries, and is believed to have been adapted from an Indian festival. It is now observed nationwide, even in the far south. However, the most famous Songkran celebrations are still in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where it continues for six days and even longer. It has also become a party for foreigners and an additional reason for many to visit Thailand for immersion in another culture.
Astrological calculationAlthough the traditional calendar of Thailand like most of Southeast Asia uses a lunisolar calendar, the date of the new year was calculated on a purely solar basis. The term Songkran comes from Sanskrit "Sankranta" and means "a move or change" — in this case the move of the sun into Aries — Mesha Sankranti.
Chola Dynasty ruled Thailand during Rajendra Chola I's reign 1012–1044 C.E. Hence this festival coincides with the Tamil New Year, Puthandu, which follows the Nirayanam vernal equinox and generally falls either on 13 or 14 April of the Gregorian year. 13 or 14 April marks the first day of the traditional Tamil calendar and is a public holiday in both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Tropical vernal equinox falls around 22 March and, adding 23 degrees of trepidation or oscillation to it, we get the Hindu sidereal or Nirayana Mesha Sankranti (Sun's transition into Nirayana Aries). Hence, Songkran falls on the same date as observed by most traditional calendars in India as in Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab and Tripura, not to mention Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Sri Lanka.