Songkran Celebrations 2016 in Pattaya, Thailand. A Crazy day and very WET & WILD!

The Songkran festival (Thai: pronounced [sǒŋ.krāːn] the Thai New Year's festival and marked by the throwing and sprinkling of water. The Thai New Year's Day is 13 April every year, but the holiday period includes 14-15 April as well. In Pattaya it is usually celebrated the week after and this years big day was 19th of April. Contradictory to what you may have witnessed throughout Songkran, fun-loving Thais don’t just throw water at each other for no good reason (besides having a kick out of seeing other people soaking wet). The real meaning behind the splashes is to symbolically wash off all misfortunes in the past year, thus welcoming the new year with a fresh new start. Traditionally, Thais would politely pour a bowl of water on members of the family, their close friends and neighbors. As Songkran has taken a more festive note, a bowl becomes a bucket, garden hose and water guns, and the spirit of holiday merriment is shared amongst all town residents and tourists alike. The word "Songkran" comes from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti, literally "astrological passage", meaning transformation or change. The term was borrowed from Makar Sankranti, the name of a Hindu harvest festival celebrated in India in January to mark the arrival of spring. It coincides with the rising of Aries on the astrological chart, the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia. The festive occasion is in keeping with the Buddhist/Hindu solar calendar.