The Songkran festival is the traditional Thai New Year’s Day and is celebrated from April 13th to April 15th. The word Songkran is from the Sanskrit language and means the passage of the sun from one sign of the Zodiac to another. That means there are twelve Songkrans each year, but the significance of this Songkran (sometimes called Major Songkran to distinguish it from the others) is when the sun enters the sign of Aries the Ram. The particular event was also closely related to the Vernal Equinox.
Celebrating New Year at the time of the Vernal Equinox was very common in the past. The Songkran celebration is similar to those of the Indian Holi Festival, the Chinese Ching Ming, and the Christian Festival of Easter.
The most famous aspect of the Songkran celebrations is the throwing of water. The custom originates from spring cleaning aspect of Songkran. Part of the ritual was the cleaning of images of Buddha. Using the ‘blessed’ water that cleaned the images to soak other people is seen as a way of paying respect and bring good fortune.
Today is the birthday, in 1948, of Larry Ferguson, Hot Chocolate, who had the 1975 US No.3 single ‘You Sexy Thing’ the 1977 UK No.1 single ‘So You Win Again’ and over 25 other Top 40 hits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DwEni2N_-A
