The New Year’s Water Festival: Thai and Burmese Club Celebrates New Years

The Thai and Burmese Clubs celebrate the new years and display their festival and show off their unique culture.

In Southeast Asia, the new year starts the second week of April. These days usually coincide with the hottest days of the summer, so people in that region have come up with a way to celebrate the new year and stay cool.

This holiday is practiced in many Southeast Asian countries. Songkran, as it is known in Thailand, or Thingyan in Burma, is a festival that marks the new year. The festival lasts five days.

People celebrate the holiday with demonstrations of traditional dances, eating food, praying at a temple, and splashing each other with water, which is where the festival gets its name.

“Basically, we throw water at each other to wash away the sins of the previous year,” said Tiffany, the senator for the Burmese club. 

The water is splashed onto others to symbolize cleansing, so the person may enter the new year clean of sins from the previous year. Many students had water guns with them, used to spray other students—no doubt creating a fun way to cleanse their peers.

This is also used as a clever way to keep cool, as April is the hottest month of the year in the region. “It happens at this time of the year, it’s the hottest time of the year in Thailand. So that’s why we use water to splash each other and cool each other down” said James, an officer for the Thai club.

On the last of the five days, participants stop splashing each other and give the festival a different tone. People will often go to pagodas or temples and give offerings or do good deeds to start off the new year.
While not particularly hot in Wash., the students of the Thai and Burmese clubs still decided to practice their traditions and brought their culture to the college.

The event had many things for attendees to do. One stand was handing out folded paper stars that had fortunes written on them. These blessings were given out to students to bring them luck and good fortune in the coming year.

The event also had live performances of traditional Thai and Burmese dancing. The students of the clubs dressed in traditional clothing and performed dances respective of their native countries.

Southeast Asia has an interesting culture. The Thai and Burmese clubs brought an amazing festival to the Green River Campus. Students looking to experience more of this unique culture should be on the lookout next fall for more events from the clubs.