THAILAND’S WATER FESTIVAL
overflow with an extraordinary blend of the
decorative and the practical: lotus-blossom
bouquets, neat banana-leaf parcels packed
with sticky rice, bags of crisps, drink cartons,
torches, disinfectant, toilet rolls. Thailand’s
38,000 temples are almost entirely reliant
on donations from the faithful and
Songkran is their greatest alms-harvest.
‘I see some monks who maybe like the free
food too much,’ laughs Kruba Noi, a slender
novitiate who, at 19, has worn the orange for
eight years. His temple lies out in the rice
fields, an hour from Chiang Mai in the village
of Baan Mae On, and his Songkran is largely
spent accepting alms from kneeling, shoeless
farming families and chanting convoluted,
quick-fire blessings in return. On request,
he must pay tribute to ancestors, angels,
household spirits and deceased pets. It’s
tough vocal work: by the end of a long
morning, he’s mumbling nineteen to the
dozen, like a drowsy livestock auctioneer.smile, she admits she won’t be participating
in the super-soaked anarchy that has burst
forth from this graceful, symbolic act.
Clean-slate renewal and ritualised ‘merit
making’ are the twin spiritual cornerstones
of this festival. The former manifests itself
in the redecorating of temples, intensive
spring cleaning and the wearing of garish
new clothes: families congregate in matching
Hawaiian shirts and drape floral garlands
around each other’s necks. The latter, the
earning of good karma for the coming year,
begins in earnest on the penultimate dawn of
the old one, on 13 April, when a long line of
monks files through the red-brick columns
of Tha Phae gate, one of the four entrances
to Chiang Mai’s 13th-century Old City.
A dense crowd presses around them,
toting offerings that are devoutly held forth
with a respectful bow or on desperate
occasion slam-dunked over a sea of heads
into the monks’ silver bowls. These swiftlyAt Songkran, it can feel as if every other
Thai male is a monk and there has indeed
been a surge in numbers over recent years:
the country is currently home to more than
300,000. Some elders sniff that most newbies
are young men who sign up for just a few
months, drawn by the chance to study, the
free bed and board, and especially the kudos.
A stint as a monk bestows much familial
karma and is a very attractive entry on the
CV of a potential employee or husband.
Kruba Noi, though, is in it for the long haul.
‘For me, this festival is about renewal, the
birth of a new year and another opportunity
to improve myself,’ he says, referencing an
allegiance to reincarnation that underpins
his religious career. Asked why he chose
to become a monk, he looks nonplussed: ‘It
wasn’t a choice. I was a monk in a previous
life and just responded to that call.’
In Baan Mae On, extra-temple festivities
are rooted in deference and fraternity.On the second day
of the festival, Thais
traditionally build sand
pagodas at temples and
bring flags as offerings