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By APD writer Juicy Chan
BANKGOK, April 6 (APD) - Thailand tourism body is promoting nationwide water splashing festival celebration in the country's major and emerging destinations.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT) is trumpeting "Grand Songkran Celebrations" in Bangkok and 12 major tourist destinations around the Kingdom. The festivities will be held in most of country's secondary provinces known for unique traditions in celebrating the Thai new Year, with events date running from April 7 to 20.
Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT governor, said Songkran is one of Thailand's most important festivals when families celebrate with centuries-old traditions, returning to their homes for three to five days of making merit and water splashing ceremonies,which invokes sin being washed away with scented water.
At five emerging secondary destinations, locals and visitors will enjoy the festival with nostalgic time-honored rituals.
The main activity of the festival is pouring scented water on sacred Buddha images of local temples. Lustral water used to clean Buddhist statues has been regarded as a form of spiritual cleansing since ancient times. It's collected and then gently dripped over the hands of senior family members for luck.
In central Thailand's Sing Buri, the celebration is centered around the ancient Ban Bang Rachan, an important settlement during Ayutthaya period about 300 years ago. Temples will hold annual processions of decorated ox-carts parading sacred cloth of the Buddha to warn off bad luck.
In northern Thailand's Kamphaeng Phet, where retro-traditions of water splashing festival are held along the Ping river, there is a Buddha image wrapping procession.
In southern Thailand's Nakhon Si Thammarat, the religious element of the celebrations take on a distinctly Hindu feel, with Brahmin ceremonies and rituals as well as the must-attend Nang Dan parade.
During April 12-16, TAT expects an amount of tourism spending from foreign and Thai travelers of more than 19.8 billion baht (600 million U.S. dollars), up 18 percent over the same period last year.
The TAT said 9.4 billion baht will be spent by an expected number of 530,000 foreign tourists.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
