Thailand Festivals and Events 2010

Happy Songkran from Samut Prakan in Thailand! I hope everyone has a happy new year. Today is the start of the traditional Thai new year in Thailand. The pictures in this blog I took a few hours ago of a parade through Paknam city center. The picture above shows two of the seven daughters of the god Kabil Maha Phrom who lost his head during a wager. Each year, one of the daughters rides a different animal during the Songkran Parade carying his head. The animal is decided upon by court astrologers. This year it looks like it was a wild boar. You can visit our sister blogs at thailandlife.com for more background information about this legend.

There must have been about a thousand people taking part in this parade. All dressed up and singing and dancing. Everyone was having fun.Plenty of people standing either side of the road throwing water at each other as well.

The water fights have already started. I was safe for most of the time during this parade as I was taking pictures. But, towards the end people started to come up to me to ask permission to either pour water down my neck or put some white powder on my face. In situations like this it is best not to resist and just smile. After all, by sprinkling their elders with water they are making merit and it would be wrong of us to refuse.

I have come back to get  a change of clothes before heading out again this afternoon to take more pictures for thai-blogs.com. There are two locations in Samut Prakan area that I will visit. These are Taiban where most of the waterfights take place and the Ancient City which will have more traditional activities. I will be bringing you more reports and photos over the Songkran holiday.