Thais Observe New Year 2532 With Prayer, Festival

An 18-foot-tall golden Buddha, surrounded by vases of birds of paradise and other brightly colored flowers, towered above the barefoot supplicants who knelt on the plush red carpet Saturday and prayed. Burning incense gave the room a sweet scent.

Off to the side of the Wat Thai of Los Angeles temple in North Hollywood, four monks, clad in bright orange robes, sat cross-legged on a raised wooden dais, chanting in Thai.

On their knees, Nong Jumnongpakdee, 19, and her mother, Jittra, approached the monks with presents of new orange robes, toothpaste, detergent, food and other items.

Chanting, the monks called on ancestors to symbolically receive the presents. Then they dipped straw reeds into fragrant water and sprinkled those kneeling before them with blessings for health and prosperity.

It is a traditional ritual during Songkran Festival, which marks the Thai New Year and is celebrated each year at Wat Thai and the handful of other Thai Buddhist temples in Southern California.

More than just a place to pray, Wat Thai, which officials said was the first such structure in the United States when it was built in 1972, also serves as a community center.

2-Day Festival

Each year, its two-day Songkran Festival draws hundreds of the as many as 75,000 Thais living in Southern California--the largest number of any region outside Thailand, temple officials said.

In Thailand the holiday occurs in the middle of the hot season--when no agricultural work can be performed--and is an opportunity for villagers to relax before cool temperatures return and rice planting begins.

But the Jumnongpakdees live in Sepulveda, not Thailand. And for them, the Songkran festivities--which include traditional Thai food, music, dance, a beauty pageant and religious rituals--were a poignant reminder of the culture that they left behind only recently.

“It makes me a little bit homesick,” said Jumnongpakdee, who has been in the United States six months and is studying at Cal State Los Angeles. “In Thailand, Songkran lasts three days, and everybody celebrates and smiles. You can’t believe it.”

The new Thai year 2532--counted from the time that Buddha was said to attain enlightenment--officially began Thursday. But although Buddhism has been incorporated into almost all aspects of Thai life, including Songkran, the festival started long before Buddhism was introduced into the region.

“The most critical part of the holiday is that it is a spring festival welcoming the new year,” said Harry Phillips, UC Berkeley anthropology professor. In villages and cities throughout Thailand, the holiday is celebrated with lengthy festivals that feature food, music, magicians, plays, gambling, snake charmers and other entertainment.

To guarantee that the new year brings good fortune, Thai people make “little offerings to the benevolent spirits that protect human beings,” Phillips said.

As well as believing in Buddha, most Thais believe in a full complement of “malevolent and benevolent spirits,” and many Songkran traditions involve them, he said.

In rural Thailand, villagers present food offerings to ensure a bountiful harvest in the coming year. Urban dwellers also pay homage to the “spirit of the land on which the homes are built and the temple is built,” he said.

Songkran is also known as the water-splashing festival because a major aspect of the holiday involves the tradition of throwing water on friends, family and those of higher rank to help them survive the hot season. In Thailand, the normal code of behavior that sometimes restricts socializing between people of different genders, ages or social positions is abandoned during Songkran.

“No matter who is splashed, they must take it with good humor,” Phillips said.

“We get to splash water on anyone we want,” said Anna Intharathut, 12, who was born in the United States.

At Wat Thai on Saturday, celebrants also poured vials of scented water on statues of Buddha. “You give the Buddha a shower so you can be happy and fresh for the new year,” said Phra Wichaien, a monk of Wat Thai. “It is very hot so we give them a shower to make them fresh and cold when it is so hot.”

The holiday is also an opportunity for family members to reunite and pay homage to their ancestors by presenting them with ritual offerings through the monks.

“You thank your mother and father for your prosperity and happiness,” said Sumana Baiua, a monk at Wat Thai. “You share what you get with them.”

Thai immigrants with American-born children said the activities at Wat Thai help their offspring understand their ethnic heritage.

The temple serves as the center of the San Fernando Valley Thai community that spreads from Canoga Park to North Hollywood, offering numerous cultural activities such as language classes, arts and crafts, a library and meeting places.

“Some people don’t have a chance to go to the country,” said Intira Yostrumrong, whose two children, ages 11 and 4, were born in the United States. “That is why we have everything here like in Thailand.

“Some groups when they come here try to get rid of their past. We hope the Thai will not. That’s why we have everything, so the children will know what’s going on, our customs,” Yostrumrong said.