Experience Songkran festivities at Thai Supermarket on 13 and 14 April 2024 with Thai cultural pop-ups, performances and free food tastings, organised in partnership with the Thai Trade Center, Singapore and Tourism Authority of Thailand.
The Songkran celebrations will be held in front of Thai Supermarket at Aperia Mall. This will be the first time that the event is being held outside the iconic Golden Mile Complex. It will feature products from Northeastern, Eastern, Central and Southern Thailand, a wellness zone featuring Thai massage techniques and products. The festival kicks off with the traditional Song Nam Phra ritual, an auspicious start to the new year where attendees can pour scented water over a Buddha to wash away bad luck and prepare for the year ahead.
This ritual symbolises purification and renewal, embodying the essence of the Songkran festival. The buddha will also be placed at the main entrance of the supermarket on 13 and 14 April for the public to pour scented water if they wish to.
Be enthralled by traditional Thai dance performances, a captivating Muay Thai demonstration, and the serene melodies of Thai Khim music, celebrating the diverse cultural heritage of Thailand’s four regions.
Songkran
People performing water pouring on Buddha statues during Songkran in Wat Pho, Bangkok
Songkran is a term derived from the Sanskrit word, saṅkrānti (or, more specifically, meṣa saṅkrānti)[clarification needed] and used to refer to the traditional New Year for Buddhist calendar celebrated in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, parts of northeast India, parts of Vietnam and Xishuangbanna, China. It begins when the sun transits the constellation of Aries, the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, as reckoned by sidereal astrology. It is related to the equivalent Hindu calendar-based New Year festivals in most parts of South Asia which are collectively referred to as Mesha Sankranti.
Thai New Year or Songkran (Thai: เทศกาลสงกรานต์, pronounced [tʰêːt.sā.kāːn sǒŋ.krāːn]) is the Thai New Year's national holiday. Songkran is on 13 April every year, but the holiday period extends from 14 to 15 April. In 2018 the Thai cabinet extended the festival nationwide to seven days, 9–16 April, to enable citizens to travel home for the holiday.[1] In 2019, the holiday was observed 9–16 April as 13 April fell on a Saturday. The word "Songkran" comes from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti, literally "astrological passage", meaning transformation or change. It coincides with the rising of Aries on the astrological chart[4] and with the New Year of many calendars of Southeast and South Asia, in keeping with the Buddhist and Hindu Calendar. The New Year takes place at around the same time as the new year celebrations of many regions of South Asia like China (Dai people of Yunnan Province), India, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
In Thailand, New Year is now officially celebrated 1 January. Songkran was the official New Year until 1888, when it was switched to a fixed date of 1 April. Then in 1940, this date was shifted to 1 January. The traditional Thai New Year Songkran was transformed into a national holiday. Celebrations are famous for the public water fights framed as ritual cleansing. This had become quite popular among Thai and foreigners.
