Paul's Songkran Festival Journal
April 12
Today I arrived at my friend Worawut's house for the holidays. His family was doing a spring cleaning of their pretty wooden house in preparation for the spring festival of Songkran. They put their hands together in front of the body, like giving wishes, to greet me with a traditional action called the wai. Worawut translated their words for me.
April 13
That smells wonderful! The women were cooking Thai foods for today's festival opening ceremonies. We men went to the river and brought lots of sand to the village wat. That was a very beautiful building where the monks (僧侣) lived. We left the sand near the wat. Worawut said I'd soon find out why.
April 14
We all dressed up and went to the village wat. The monks waited with their bowls at a long table. Monks are used to a life of discipline (纪律)，but not today. We filled their bowls with rice and all kinds of delicious foods. Everyone smiled and music played as the monks ate.
After that, we attended the bathing ceremony. We poured water over little stones. Young people poured some sweet-smelling water into the hands of older people to show respect for them. Outside, everyone used the sand we brought to make sand pagodas (塔). We put flowers,flags,and stones on ours. It was beautiful.
April 15
Today was the last day of the festival, and Worawut told me to get ready for some water throwing. We put lots of water on the truck and drove into the village. Everyone was throwing water. We got all wet! On such a hot day the water felt really good. I didn't feel tired at all!I can't wait to come back next year!
