SONGKHRAN!!!

We just made it through our first ever Songkran, the Thai New Year festival. It is 3 days long, and is one of the most unique festivals in the world. It mainly consists of throwing water at each other and rubbing mud on each other's faces. We had heard many stories, but we still weren't prepared for the maylem when we rode our bikes to church on sunday morning in our "church" clothes.

The church celebrated Songkhran as well. The older people of the church sat in a semi-circle while the younger members went around and prayed for each member and blessed them by pouring a little water on the hands of the member and wiping a little paste on the cheeks. It was a moving and fun ceremony. Apparently, this is how the ceremony began, by young people returning home and blessing/thanking their parents and elders for teaching them. But, this is what it has turned into. It is now the MARDI GRAS of Thailand.

When we left church in our nice "church" clothes, people had already started playing hard. In a 1/2 km ride home we got soaked with warm and COLD water and covered with mud.

We changed into some old clothes and rode our bikes through the mob of people to a friend's house in the heart of action. They were armed with buckets of water, loud music, lots of snacks, and a continuously running water hose. We stayed at the house from 1-5:30 for two days, throwing water on anyone we could. People walking by would wipe mud on our face, and we would return with a bucket of water. People often stopped traffic to do a little dance in the street or to attack a friend with some mud.

Our friends even bought about 100 pounds of ice at one point to give the water a little better effect on passers by. People expecting to get a little warm water, instead got soaked with freezing cold water. It was definitely a fun atmosphere, and most of it is in good fun, although the wiping mud on someone's face often turns into a good excuse for guys to try to grope any girl passing by. The festival breaks so many cultural "rules" that it turns out to be a big release for people. In Thailand it is culturally offensive to:

1. touch the head of anyone over 5 years old

2. have any physical contact with the opposite sex in public

3. do anything to someone older than you

4. throw things to anyone

All of these "known" rules are set aside for these three days, and basically anything goes. Thankfully, the thai's are all very cool headed and do not let anything bother them. We did not see any fights or major accidents, although we saw several close calls. Check out the video below (you'll see Ashley throwing water people in the truck) and our songkhran pictures on picasa as well.