Songkran, Thailand's new year and the water that comes with it

Walk down a Thai street in mid-April and you will get wet. Children wait on corners with water pistols the size of rifles; teenagers stand in the backs of pick-up trucks with barrels and buckets; shopkeepers aim hoses at passing motorbikes. Old ladies, more gently, pour a little scented water over your shoulder and smile. Nobody is exempt, and nobody stays dry. This is Songkran, the Thai new year, and in the heat of April a soaking is, on the whole, a kindness.

The new year in April

Songkran is the traditional new year of the Thai solar calendar, timed to the sun's passage into Aries, and it falls in mid-April, after the rice harvest. The festival is traditionally three days long, on 13, 14 and 15 April, and many people take the whole week off. In some places, the water play goes on for longer: in Chiang Mai, the celebrations are famously long and wet.

In December 2023 UNESCO added Songkran in Thailand to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognising it as much more than a street party.

The older festival

Beneath the water fight, Songkran is a festival of cleansing, respect and renewal, and of family. Many Thais travel home for it, and the cities can empty much as European ones do in August. In the temples, people make merit by offering food to the monks, and build small sand stupas in the temple grounds, decorated with flags. Buddha images are bathed with scented water, sometimes carried out in procession through the streets for the purpose. And in the home, younger people pour water gently over the hands of their parents and elders, and ask for their blessing.

The water fight grew out of these gestures: a sprinkle of blessing that became, over time and in the heat, a drenching. It is worth seeing both sides of it, by visiting a temple in the morning before joining in the chaos in the afternoon.

How hot is April?

Very. April is one of the hottest months of the year in Thailand, at the end of the hot dry season before the monsoon rains arrive, and in Bangkok it is the hottest month of all, with peak daytime temperatures of 35°C or more. The north and the central plains are hot too, and the air in the north can be hazy with smoke from the burning of fields in the weeks before the rains. The beaches of the south are a little cooler, with a sea breeze.

So travel in April means early starts and long lunches. Sightseeing is best done in the first hours of the day, and the afternoons are for shade, a swim or a siesta. Drink plenty of water, the kind you are not throwing.

Joining in

During Songkran, assume that you will be soaked whenever you are outside. Put your phone, passport and money in a waterproof pouch, wear clothes that dry quickly and do not mind getting wet, and leave anything precious in your room. Be gentle: aim at shoulders, not faces, avoid soaking monks, the elderly and anyone clearly dressed for work, and expect the same courtesy back. Traffic is the real danger. Roads are crowded with people travelling home, and the holiday has a sadly high toll of road accidents, so take care crossing streets, and be wary of riding a motorbike.

Explore's nine-night Best of Northern Thailand departs in April, among other months. From Chiang Mai it goes to the Elephant Nature Park, the old cities of Si Satchanalai and Sukhothai, Naton Chan, Uthai Thani and Ayutthaya, then Kanchanaburi and the Erawan Waterfall, Maeklong and Bangkok.

G Adventures' eleven-night Solo-ish Thailand also departs in April. It goes from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then south to Khao Sok National Park and Cheow Lan Lake, and the coast at Khao Lak.

For a much longer journey, G Adventures' thirty-five-night Bangkok to Bali: Street Food, Summits & Island Escapes has April departures too. It starts in Bangkok and goes by way of Khao Sok National Park to George Town, the Cameron Highlands, Kuala Lumpur, Gombak and Melaka in Malaysia, Singapore, and on to Bukit Lawang and Bulian in Sumatra, ending in Ubud in Bali, with Tempasan in its list.

If you are in Thailand for Songkran, embrace it. Buy a water pistol, wrap your phone, and go out into the street. It is very hard to stay grumpy while being drenched by a laughing child.