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In Pictures: Thailand’s Songkran festival

Political divisions are forgotten as New Year is celebrated with a wet and wild water nationwide fight.

Songkran traditionally takes place during the hottest part of the year, providing some respite from the sweltering temperatures.
By George Henton
Published On 20 Apr 2014

Bangkok, Thailand – In spite of Thailand’s seemingly never-ending political turmoil, people across the country put aside their differences – and coloured shirts – to celebrate Sonkgran, the annual water festival that marks the Thai New Year.

Here in the capital, Bangkok, revellers roam the streets armed with water pistols and buckets of icy water, showing little mercy to those who might not have been quite so keen to take part in the wet festivities.

The three days of celebration are a welcome respite from the political protests, which in this latest episode of the long-running saga have been ongoing for more than five months. Prior to Songkran, the pro-government “red shirts” had started to mobilise, fearful that the anti-government “yellow shirt” protesters were getting closer to achieving their goal of overthrowing the country’s caretaker prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Fiery rhetoric has spouted daily from both sides of the political divide leading to an increasingly tense situation. Grenade and gun attacks are an almost daily occurrence and the army, perhaps Thailand’s most powerful institution, has warned of the threat of civil war if things continue as they are.

However, despite the gloomy political outlook, and the fact that the protests are a fight for who will control Thailand in the future, both sides have agreed to take a break for the holidays to have what is, in essence, a nationwide water fight.

Once Songkran is over and the water pistols are put away for another year, the focus will once again turn to the political arena. But for now, if only for three days, Thailand is enjoying a welcome break.

Revellers in Bangkok stand shoulder-to-shoulder, as massive crowds gather in the city centre.
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A member of the Bangkok Fire Brigade fires a jet of water at revellers during a street party in the capital.
Unlike the numerous recent political rallies, the festival crowds tend to be made up of mostly young people.
Music, drinking and dancing play a big part in the street party atmosphere.
A tourist takes part in the festivities in Bangkok.
Rescue trucks stand at the end of Silom, one of the main gathering points in Bangkok. Songkran has become notorious in Thailand for the high number of road deaths, due in part to the heavy drinking associated with the holiday.
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A young man poses for a photographer, his face covered with white paste applied by other party goers.
The numbers that turned out in parts of Bangkok were comparable if not greater to those that have attended some of the larger anti-government rallies in the past few months.
Attempting to fill water guns from fountains outside a Bangkok shopping mall can be just as damp as being targeted by the hose-bearing fire department.
The water fights take place across much of the city, from massive crowds to smaller groups and families enjoying the holiday.
In Silom, just across the road from the new camp of the anti-government protesters and the many Royal Thai army bunkers set up to protect the site, tens of thousands of people gathered to celebrate Songkran.