Songkran.... Wringing out the New Year...

Songkran....
New Year in Savannakhet is more than splashing water...

Happy New Year

April 12-14 marks the lunar New Year throughout the region. In Thailand, the Songkran festivities can get rather boisterous and out of hand, as groups of people on pick-ups cruise the streets, hurling buckets of water and flour bombs at each other.

Tradition starts early
Š Michel Guntern

Although everybody expects to get a soaking in Savannakhet too, the Lao take the bathing of Buddha statuettes more seriously, and tour the various wats, or temples, to perform the rituals.

The children then collect this water to anoint each other.

[Hong Kong]

[Vietnam]


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