BYU-Hawaii students and staff joined hundreds of Thai natives in Honolulu to celebrate Songkran, a festival of food, water, and music to commemorate the Thai New Year on April 9.The gathering was held at Kapiolani Regional Park.
Food vendors from all over Oahu surrounded a stage of Thai musicians performing under an elevated concert gazebo throughout the afternoon. Stop Khemthorn, a senior from Thailand majoring in international cultural studies, explained how the recent celebration marked the start of the year 2,559 of the Thai calendar, which began at the death of Buddha.
“Traditionally Songkran is a ritual ceremony for honoring the elderly. Young folks go back to their hometown to wash or bathe the elderly,” Khemthorn explained. According to Khemthorn, Songkran typically falls on the hottest days of the year, so a major part of the celebration includes people throwing water on each other to beat the heat.
A handful of children brought water guns to the Hawaii gathering, but there was no water splashing like in the holiday’s homeland. Instead, the festival was more food focused, offering visitors a chance to wash the feet of local Buddhist monks wearing their traditional orange robes.
Dannia Tan, a senior from Laie studying TESOL, attended the festival. “They are a humble people and they express themselves through the food they make,” she said. Her father, Chef Spencer Tan, is the head of Food Services at BYUH.
He said, “The food here is amazing because they can do so many things with one vegetable. Most people don’t even eat bamboo, but these people can make bamboo taste so good.”In addition to the many bamboo dishes, most vendors offered an assortment of Thailand’s signature dishes, such as the spicy Tum Yum Kung soup or the basil-rich Pad Krapow with rice.
Michelle Allred, a senior from Mexico majoring in psychology, said, “The food here tastes more legit than anywhere else on the island. I especially love the curry with coconut I got today.”
Lee Lapense works in the BYUH cafeteria and has attended many Songkran festivals in the past. “This is pretty good for being so far from Thailand. One big difference though is the music is very centralized [around the stage]. In Thailand the music surrounds you,” Lapense added.
Jay Silawong, a freshman from Thailand majoring in international cultural studies, said, “It was a pretty fun festival and fun activity. Lots of people might not know the history behind it, so we have to keep the tradition for the next generation.”