News from Berlin
Royal Thai Embassy Celebrates New Year’s Day “Songkran”
April 09th, 2014
News from Berlin – Tomorrow, the Royal Thai Embassy celebrates “Songkran” at the Residence of the Ambassador of Thailand. The “Songkran” is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year’s Day from April 13th to April 15th. As the festival was traditionally based on the lunar calendar, the date of the Songkran changes each year. However, due to the pressures of modern life it has now been fixed with April 13th acting as New Year’s Day.
Songkran is the occasion for family re-union, temple visits and annual house cleaning. Traditionally, young people would pour fragrant water into the elders’ palms as a gesture of humility and to ask for their blessings. Many Thais would also pour the fragrant water over the Buddha statues as it is believed that it will bring good luck and prosperity for the forthcoming year. This tradition has its roots in the past when people sprinkled scented water on each other to cool down since April is the hottest month in Thailand.
As a preface, the Royal Thai Embassy already invited the “Berliner Botschafter Brunch” (Berlin Ambassador Brunch) in the restaurant Maritim on March 30th. After the Ambassador’s speech, Thai food and drinks were served and Thai customs shown such as a traditional Thai dance performance.
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