| The Songkran Parade |
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| Written by Richard Barrow | |
| Wednesday, 12 April 2006 | |
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Around the country, the start of Songkran is marked with a Miss Songkran beauty pageant and a parade. We had our parade today in Samut Prakan. It wasn’t quite like the parade I wrote about last year (Nang Songkran and her Parade). Back then they had the floats (see pictures) and lots of people walking behind them. There was also plenty of singing and dancing. The parade went from the city hall to the roundabout at Taiban and back again. However, this year the city administration decided to link up the celebrations with the Ancient City. So, everyone did the parade on the back of trucks. Not quite the same atmosphere as they had to travel far. And at speed once they were on the highway.
If you go back and read my blog from last year you will see the legend behind this parade. You will learn about how the god Kabil Maha Phrom lost his head and why each year one of his seven daughters takes turn carrying his head. This year, Songkran starts on a Friday (Thursday 13th April is really new year’s eve) so it was the turn of “Kimitatevee”. She wears a white dress with topaz ornament, prefers a banana, dagger in the right hand, Indian vina in the left hand, and a buffalo as a vehicle.You may remember from my pictures last year that it was Montatevee riding a donkey. The winner of Miss Songkran is riding the buffalo in this picture.
This parade being sponsored by Ancient City was a probably a good move by them. Between 12th-16th April they will be holding many activities to celebrate Songkran. I went last year and it was really good. If you are in the Bangkok area at the moment then I would strongly suggest that you go to the Ancient City. It costs 300 baht for foreigners and 100 baht for Thais. Bring a hat and sun cream. It was HOT with capital letters today. Maximum temperature was 39 Celsius. I will be going to the park early in the morning tomorrow in order to try and beat the heat and also the crowds. I will share my photos with you when I get back.
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