23 April 2102
Bangkok Post Postbag
I have just returned to Thailand after a visit to Cambodia where I spent Songkran in Siem Reap. What a vast difference in the way it is celebrated. I was privileged to be invited into a Cambodian home where I saw teenage and adult children pay respects to their parents by pouring perfumed and flower-petalled water over their hands before receiving a parental blessing in return.
There was no sign of Songkran-gone-crazy on the streets. Where was everybody, I asked? ''Oh, we go to the temple for Songkran,'' was the reply.
And sure enough, when I went to the local temple there they all were, including young novice monks enjoying building sandcastle stupas from the new sand that the faithful had bought into the wat.
Is it too late for Thailand to return to these simple and dignified means of celebrating this important festival which seems to have totally lost its meaning in Thailand today?
DAVID BROWN
Rayong
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6 comments:
David Brown just doesn't understand the Siem people mentality. Everything in Thailand is done to attract tourism. So if Songkran have lost its meaning in Thailand then Thailand gained more tourism and money in the process!
it's good that david brown got a chance to come to cambodia for during our khmer new year. although khmer, thai, lao and myanmarese people shared the same new year celebration, the splashing of water and face-painting of talcum powder seemed more prevalent in thailand, laos and myanmar; not so much in cambodia because in cambodia, during our khmer new year, most khmer people go to celebrate at the many pagoda or wats all over cambodia. there, khmer people enjoy traditional khmer games like tug-of-war and variety of other traditional khmer games which often enjoy during the khmer new year celebration, of course. also, khmer people enjoy dancing and meeting others during this time. usually, we would dress up in beautiful, traditional khmer clothings like haul and pamoung for the ladies and silk, etc for men. anyway, nice that mr. brown noted some differences in cambodia, even though these countries i mentioned do mark the same new year.
i do agree with 12:51pm that thai people tend to do it to attract tourists in their country, while khmer people in cambodia tend to do it more for customs and traditional khmer way, i.e., maintaining khmer identity. i think that's the difference. hope everyone who visited my country cambodia enjoy our khkmer hospitality, khmer food, khmer shows, khmer dances, khmer culture, etc, etc.
yes, in cambodia or anywhere khmer live, we tend to put more stress or emphasize on maintaining our khmer customs, culture and tradition during our khmer new year more than trying to impress our hosts, the tourists, you know. however, that doesn't mean we don't welcome the tourists to our country though; it just means we like focus more on our khmer identity like customs, culture and tradition, etc. that's all.
David is very good in observation, he gave Cambodian number one over Thais that meant Cambodian can maintain her tradition despite of the invasion of foreigner, tourist, modern technology ect.
Cambodia New Year never use water or paint white stuff in their face to celebrate like being use in Thailand. Khmer does not use water to throw over people, it is an act of disrespect or harras, because during the new year we all dress up very expensive cloth.
Khmer normal celebrate at home or at temple but not in street unlike Thailand they went whild on street created chaos and traffic congestion.
Khmer New Year meant for peace and give respect to alive ancestor, and prosperity of the incoming year. Peace mean no trouble therefore Khmer prefer celebrate quiet way at home and temple.
David is very good in observation; he gave Cambodian number one over Thais that meant Cambodian can maintain her tradition despite of the invasion of foreigner, tourist, modern technology etc.
Cambodia New Year never uses water or paint white stuff in their face to celebrate like being use in Thailand. Khmer does not use water to throw over people, it is an act of disrespect or harass, because during the New Year we all dress up very expensive cloth.
Khmer normal celebrate at home or at temple but not in street unlike Thailand they went wild on street created chaos and traffic congestion.
Khmer New Year meant for peace and give respect to alive ancestor, and prosperity of the incoming year. Peace means no trouble therefore Khmer prefer celebrate quiet way at home and temple.
i don't you if you know it or not, but in my country cambodia, khmer people prefer to maintain our rich khmer culture, khmer customs and khmer tradition. in other words, we prefer to maintain our khmer identity during our traditonal holidays in our country, you know. nothing's wrong with that, we prefer to be different; so, it is better for the world to get used to that when they visit cambodia. if you ask khmer people what's more important to us whether trying to impress the tourists or maintaining our culture and tradition, most khmer people would tell you that it is more important to maintain our khmer customs, culture and tradition, you know. i want to let people know this because not everybody knows about cambodia, really.
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