happy new year! it's the traditional beginning of the year...celebrated in chiang mai by the biggest water fight in the world called songkran! this was a time that used to focus on showing respect to the elders in one's life. the purification symbol of water was used to bless superiors; often water was poured on the shoulder.
all that has morphed into an incredibly fun time of dousing people with water. the streets are lined with people in garishly-coloured shirts and buckets of water, throwing it at motorcycles and trucks going by who are armed with their own barrels or waterguns.
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| getting ready for a passing motorcycle... |
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| contact! |
we went with some friends down to the main part of town--the remnants of an ancient moat. before taking two steps we were promptly soaked. we were sucked right in to the wet mayhem. warm water from the moat was flung from buckets. ice water from barrels was poured down our backs.
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| ready for a water fight! |
at one point, i stood in the middle of the huge, water-soaked crowd, pushed the wet hair out of my face, and could not believe how unbelievably fortunate i was. i loved seeing a whole community come together with gusto. the fact that we get to live here and take part in such fun is beautiful to me.
this is a time that started for cleansing. and now, after this songkran break, with time to think and pray and be and participate in a huge water fight, i indeed feel cleansed and ready for the sprint to the end of the school year!
note: since i didn't want our little camera to get ruined, i didn't take it out of the car. i sacrificed
good pictures for the chance to take
future pictures! so be sure to do a google search on songkran and its history! then go out and organize your own water fight!
