Songkran in Thailand, Laos, and Nepal

This is the most important national holiday of the country. Songkran coincides with the time period when the sun enters the sign of Aries, which usually occurs around the middle of April. However, the Thai government set the date of April 13 for ease of planning and extended the holiday to make it a three-day celebration.

The first day of Songkran is dedicated to renewing and saying goodbye to the old, respectfully cleaning Buddha statues, spring cleaning the house, getting rid of unnecessary items and buying new clothes.

The second day is devoted to doing good deeds, avoiding bad words, smiling, making offerings to monks and visiting temples to build sand chedis, which are essentially sand temples, not sand castles.

On the last day, Thais continue to do good deeds, such as making offerings to monks and sprinkling holy water on Buddha statues. Families also gather together, with great emphasis on visiting elderly family members to seek their blessings.