Songkran

In an effort to fulfill goal #3 of the Peace Corps 3 goals, I have started a blog.  Something I have never done, so please have compassion on my struggles with not only communicating, but using technology to do so.  By the way, goal #3 is to educate the people back home about the people of Thailand.  Trust me, there is a LOT to learn.  I have been here 3 months and am just scratching the surface of Thai culture.  More about all of that later, today I want to talk about Songkran.  Songkran is the Thai new year.  Most things Thai are not a one day shindig and Songkran is no exception to this rule.  Here in my village in Issan it lasted a week which is a good thing because I didn't jump in to the water throwing on the first day.  A week ago we blessed the elders of my amphur with scented water and dancing in a circle while swaying your hands to and fro.

 And, nothing would be complete without eating some food together.  In Thailand you are expected to eat rice to make all meals "complete"  If you have not eaten rice, you have not really eaten.  That is why you are asked many times a day "Gin kao ruu yang"  or have you eaten rice yet.  Sometimes you are asked this even while you are putting the spoon of rice into your mouth.  (I have not quite gotten used to that)  My brain still reacts with a stupid question alert.  I mean you see me shoveling rice into my mouth...duh.

But stupid questions are not stupid questions in Thailand.  They are nice people trying to make polite conversation.  

For Saturday and Sunday I joined in the fun by throwing buckets of water, or using a water gun to "bless"  anyone in my range.  This really made some connections with my students and with people in my village.   No one, no matter how much they want to stay dry gets upset when you douse them.  That is the Thai way  greng jai or not showing anger.  Also Thais generally have a mai bpen rai attitute- which basically means "don't worry"  Thai people love to have fun, and Songkan is all about fun.

 When no one was around to throw water on, we threw water on each other, beat beats on buckets and tamboreens and sang Thai folk songs.  They know I know one Thai song-"dtaa mon dtaa"  so we sing it a lot.  We partook in sharing a few beers and I saw a few of my friends had headaches at sunset.  It was a long hot day, and beer does not go too well with that combo.  Luckily I escaped that fate by using moderation and drinking coconut water.

plin for sale

Yesterday, the last day of Songkran, I went to the Wat across the street from my homestay to dance with my female friends from around the village.  We danced to Issan "house" music (playing a phin) for a few hours and I really got a sense of how protective Thai women can be.  There was a man there who was a little drunk, but didn't seem to be a threat to me, however the women would always be between me and him and if he came near, they would push him away.  They always knew where I was and kept me safe.  Later we "songkraned" the monks and the elders of our village and by this time I was very very dirty, wet, and powdered.

Next we went down into a rice paddy next to the wat (temple) and filled our buckets with soil and brought them up and made little sand castle mounds in front of three bamboo stumps and a shrine.  Everyone grabbed a handful of flowers and musical instruments and paraded around the perimeter of the village while people threw water on us. Four monks led our parade and blessed people kneeling at the entrance to their homes by using flowers to throw water on the kneeling villagers. When we returned we planted our flowers into our mounds of soil.  By this time I had danced up quite the appetite and wanted a bucket shower.  More about what is a bucket shower in my next post.