The Thai New Year celebration was this past Sunday at Wat Thai in Silver Spring. Songkran festival, April 13-15, is traditionally celebrated in Thailand by "hitting" people with large amounts of water (via water gun, water buckets, water hose, etc), but in Silver Spring, people stayed dry and hot. There were plenty of food and performances all day long. Wat Thai was packed with people of all races. It was an interesting day of eating lots of great food and dessert, and getting a glimpse of a culture different from my own.
Despite the troubling political events happening in Thailand right now, everyone celebrated with little discussions of what is going back home. [Click to see news of current Thai events]
Food tents were packed with people lining up to purchase authentic Thai food that are priced well. It's actually so much cheaper to buy Thai food at the festival than going to a restaurant, and you can find dishes that are not served in restaurants.
The barbecued pork was really good with sticky rice. It was one of a handful of non-spicy food I can eat. Although, you can always request to get your food non-spicy or mild, and they're limit the number of chili they add in your dish.
There were plenty of food for everyone.
It was perfect day for a picnic as well. The previous years, Thai new year was always cold and wet. This year's weather was perfect.
Dancers dancing a traditional Thai dance with the complete traditional Thai outfit. I have a video, but I have yet to upload it to YouTube.
There was a section for people who want to offer gifts (flowers, candles, etc) to buddha in exchange for a year of good luck.
People also stuck these really thin gold sheets on to the buddha for good fortune. From what I heard, these are real gold, and it was disrespectful and bad luck to peel them off of the buddha. So I resisted. ^_^
People can take a small scoop of water using the small cups and pour it out / sprinkle it on yourself, other people, and another buddha statue. It symbolizes a cleansing process of starting fresh and clean in the new year.
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