Poy San Long in Northern Thailand has great cultural and spiritual significance for the Shan group.  Celebrated in early April, it is a rich and colorful Buddhist 3-day celebration of grandeur with traditional music, dancing and feasting symbolizing the right of passage for young boys becoming novice monks. The boys are adorned with special makeup and are dressed in colorful and elaborate costumes.  The boys are carried on the shoulders of one of three attendees or on horseback as they proceed to the temple.  Being ordained as novice monks, the boys gain spiritual merit for themselves and their families.  Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand, hosts the most colorful celebrations. For three days, the boys families enjoy sumptuous feasts,

exchange gifts, and the boys parade to the temple in splendor.  The last day ends with their ordination as novice monks. After feasting, the boys change into the humble yellow robes of austere novice monks for 15 days up to 1 month.  

If you plan just right, you may also want to be in Thailand during the 3-day celebration of Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year. This can be a surprisingly raucous national holiday, especially in Bangkok and the South.  During the hottest time of year, there are often legendary public water fights with soakers, hoses, buckets and the like in the spirit of a ritual/spiritual purification.  Locals usually return to their family homes to celebrate with large-scale parties, music, and street events.

But in Northern Thailand, the celebration is a more traditional experience with colorful parades, floats and subdued water fights around the city moat.  Especially in Chiang Mai, the festival represents a spiritual spring-cleansing with scented water poured onto sacred Buddha images in temples. Songkran symbolizes the washing away of the previous year’s problems and a time of renewal. It is also a time of alms giving and a time to respect elders by pouring scented water on their hands and feet in return for blessings.

Both of these festivals are extraordinary, surely worthy of an April trip to enjoy Thai culture, traditions and these memorably exuberant celebrations at this time of year.