In the old days, Songkran's Day (song-grarn)
was regarded as Thailand's
New Year's Day,
when fell on 13, 14 and 15 April, and then changed from such a
month to 1 January.
Legend had
it that Songkran's Day was held to welcome the sun that gave both
light and warmth to the earth. Later, Thais regard Songkran's
Day as the ceremony for remembering their grandmothers, grandfathers
and a festivity. When Songkran's Day comes, the people regardless
of men, women, children and adults go to the temple in the morning,
together with bringing foods, flowers, joss 
sticks
and candles to offer Buddhist monks to devote merit to their dead
grandmothers and grandfathers. Some people invite the monks to
pray at their houses. Then, they have a bath image Buddha at their
houses and at a temple, and they take scented water to pour on
their people's hands to ask blessings from them to be happy and
prosperous in their lives. Then, they happily splash water to
one another.
Also, they
clean an altar of image Buddha, houses, living places and a cattle
pen. For the aforesaid Songkran's Day, it is a general deed, but
for each region there are a lot of details or odds and ends.
| Vocabulary
|
kum-sab
(คำศัพท์) |
|
|
Reading
|
| Regard |
yeud-theu
(ยึดถือ) |
| Change |
plian-plaeng
(เปลี่ยนแปลง) |
| Legend |
tum-narn
(ตำนาน) |
| Welcome |
torn-rab
(ต้อนรับ) |
| Sun |
pra
ar-tid or ta-wan
(พระอาทิตย์ or ตะวัน) |
| Light |
saeng
sa-warng
(แสงสว่าง) |
| Warmth |
kwarm-ob-un
(ความอบอุ่น) |
| Earth |
loeg
(โลก) |
| Ceremony |
pi-tee
(พิธี) |
| Remember |
rum-leug
theung
(รำลึกถึง) |
| Devote
merit |
u-tid
gu-son
(อุทิศกุศล) |
| Image
Buddha |
pra-pud-ta-roob
(พระพุทธรูป) |
| Scent |
num-ob
(น้ำอบ) |
| Pour |
rod
(verb)
(รด) |
| Prosperous |
ja-rern
or rung-roerng
(เจริญ or รุ่งเรือง) |
| Cattle |
pa-su-sad
(ปศุสัตว์) |
| Pen |
korg-sad
(คอกสัตว์) |
