Splashy Celebration to Mark Buddhist Holiday

Thais will celebrate their new year with a splash during this weekend’s Songkran festival, as devotees toss water on each other in celebration of the 2,537th year since the enlightenment of Buddha.

“It’s a holiday for fun,” said Phra Sumanatissa Barua, a monk at the Wat Thai Buddhist temple in North Hollywood.

“In Thailand, this is the time of very hot weather. So this is how we say, ‘Happy New Year.’ ”

The holiday is traditionally a combination of a springtime celebration and a religious event.

It marks the beginning of the Thai calendar, which is counted from the year that an Indian prince named Siddhartha achieved enlightenment.

April’s cruel heat prompted Siamese villagers even before the time of Buddha to celebrate the last days before the rainy season with water splashing, food and gifts to the spirits of the land.

During Songkran, the rigid social hierarchy in Thailand melts somewhat, and just about anyone becomes a fair target for a cupful of water.

Respect is still paid to monks in saffron robes and older people,who accept scented water poured over their hands as an homage to their wisdom.

“It’s mostly the younger people who do the splashing,” said Nancy Poopongpaibul, a teacher at Wat Thai.

“It’s done to wish good luck and happiness to the people who receive the water.”

Even the statues of Buddha get a bath with scented water, along with donations of fruit, incense and flowers.

“Everything gets clean,” Phra Sumana said.

Each year’s Songkran event draws many of the more than 100,000 Southern Californians who come from the Southeast Asian country and form the world’s largest community of expatriate Thais.

The festivities will take place at Wat Thai, 8225 Coldwater Canyon Ave., from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and is free to the public.

Non-Thais are encouraged to come sample the food and Thai culture, including beauty pageants, Thai classical dance and music, parades and games.