Prosperity Route

Songkran is a traditional Thai New Year's festival that takes place annually from April 13th to 15th. The festival is known for its famous water fights and is sometimes referred to as the "Water Festival". During this time, people across Thailand celebrate by throwing water at one another to wash away bad luck and sins from the previous year. Apart from Songkran, there is also something called the "Wan Lai" or the "Flowing Day" which is a merit-making day for the ethnic Thai people in the Eastern and Central regions of Thailand. This tradition has been carried out for a long time and usually takes place for 5-6 days after the regular Songkran period. During this time, the locals will build sand pagodas to pay respect to Buddha, with a total of 84,000 pagodas constructed. Each pagoda is adorned with various flags, cloth, and other offerings to the Buddha. Afterwards, the monks will bless the attendees and guests who participate in the Songkran festival, and then the sand will be used to build shrines, Buddha statues or leveled in the temple area. Currently, the tradition of "Khor Phra Taisai Namhla" or "the tradition of making sand pagodas with flowing water" is now reduced to only the "Wan Lai" or "the day of the flowing water" celebration. This is because temples or religious sites no longer need to use sand for construction, and there is no need for labor to transport sand. As a result, these activities have decreased in some areas, and only the water play remains as a part of the tradition.