Of Water Fights, Songkran and Elephants

What do you say to an elephant, covered with paint, who is splashing you with water? Probably nothing, but during Thailand’s Songkran, this happens… a lot. It is okay to splash back.

The Songkran festival, which occurs every year in mid-April, is one of those events which people either love or hate.



Originally a religious holiday and a time for family observances and low key parades, it has become a riotous occasion in which people indiscriminately soak each other with water, which they launch from a variety of devices.

While many people find this aspect of the holiday unappealing…everyone loves the elephants which play along.

In Ayutthaya Province, located some 50 miles north of Bangkok, elephants, painted and decorated for the occasion, cavorted in the streets along with merrymakers, and showered them using their natural water delivery systems!

While safety might have ordinarily been a concern, caution seemed to take a back seat to fun, and both the elephants and humans seemed to enjoy themselves immensely!

While some might have objected to being splashed by other people, no one seemed to mind being splashed by the elephants.

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