There was once a young man who was prodigious in learning. He understood even the language of the birds. This excited the jealousy of Kabil Maha Phrom, one of the gods of a higher heavenly realm. He came down to meet the young man and posed him three sphinx-like riddles with the wager that if the young man failed to give the right answers within seven days, he would lose his head but if he succeeded, the god himself would give his own. Like all folk tales the young man was at first at his wit's end to answer such difficult riddles and he repaired to a certain place in order to kill himself rather than face defeat.
He stopped at the foot of a tall tree at the top of which was an aerie. By chance he heard the mother eagle comforting her eaglets who cried for more food, that they would be gratified soon by feasting on the body of the young man who would fail to solve the riddles. She then related the story of the wager between the god and the young man, and in answer to her children's question the mother eagle satisfied them with the right answers to those three riddles. The young man availed himself of this information and on the appointed day he gave the god the three right answers.
The god, as was the case in such tales, lost the wager and himself cut off his own head. His head was a terrible one for if it touched the earth there would be a universal conflagration and if it fell into the sea, the sea would dry up through its intense heat. The god's head therefore was deposited in a certain cave in the heavens. Every new year that is on Songkran Day one of the god's seven daughters in turn will carry her father's head in procession with millions of other gods and goddesses circumambulating like the sun round the Meru, the Buddhist Olympian Mount. After that there are feasts among the celestial beings who enjoyed themselves with drinks made from the juice of the chamunad creeper. The god's head was taken back to the cave after the feast, to be taken out again on Songkran day the next year.
The seven daughters of Kabil Maha Phrom, the god who lost his head as a wager, have their own names, but they are called as a class Nang Songkran or the Songkran Ladies. When any one of them appears in a Songkran Day parade, she rides on a certain kind of animal, seven in number and she rides it in four different postures according to the time she comes. She stands on the animal's back if she comes in the morning rides on its back if she comes in the afternoon, reclines with her eyes open if she comes in the evening, and reclines with her eyes closed if she comes past midnight. All these are based on calculations made by court astrologers. For instance, in the year 1951, the Songkran Lady named Kimitha appeared on the 13th April at 1 o'clock 17 minutes and 56 seconds in the morning. She reclined with her eyes closed on the back of a buffalo. The time she appears is when the sun first enters the sign of Aries which heralds the beginning of Songkran New Year's Day.
Every year before the advent of Songkran the royal astrologer will present his calculations to the King giving all traditional information as predicted by the calculations of the coming year. The artist attached to the court will also paint a picture based on the above information, showing the Songkran Lady and the celestial procession of the god's head. This painting with such information is hung in a convenient and conspicuous place in the Royal Palace precincts for the people's information. This traditional practice was given up many years ago, but still survives in old style printed calender sheets which find a ready demand among the folk. The four postures of the Songkran Lady on the back of her animal according to the time when she first appears as a herald of the New Year, was in the old days, a wise one. The people who were mostly illiterates were able to see at a glance when the New Year or Songkran Day begins. When they see the Songkran Lady reclining with her eyes closed on the back of a buffalo, for example, they know at once that Songkran Day will start past midnight. In such a case there will be four day's celebration instead of three as in other pictures. A picture is more easily retained in memory than a number of figures.
On the morning of April 13th, which is the first day of Songkran, I went to watch a parade in Paknam City. There were hundreds of people lined up on each side of the road as the floats and processions passed by. It was very hot watching the parade but we were cooled down with people squirting water at us and even poring cold water down our necks!
The first float to pass us was for Nang Songkran (Miss Songkran). You can tell the exact time and date for the start of songkran by which animal she is upon. This year is was a tiger.
You can see from these pictures how crowded it was. It is Thai tradition to pour water on people as well as smear some wet powder on their faces. You can see in the right picture that even the novice monk wasn't left out!
The parade went on for quite a long time with people singing and dancing and having a good fun. Once everything was finished many of them would go off to have some more fun playing water fights with their friends.
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