PUBLISHED : 2 Dec 2023 at 04:00
NEWSPAPER SECTION: News
The Songkran festival will be listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by Unesco, the Ministry of Culture announced yesterday.
The official announcement will be made at Unesco’s Intergovernmental Committee meeting for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Botswana on Dec 6.
The ministry will hold a special week-long celebration in Bangkok starting Dec 7, said Kowit Pakamart, director-general of the Department of Cultural Promotion.
The “Songkran in Thailand, Traditional Thai New Year Festival” event will be organised at City Hall’s Lan Khon Mueang ground and Wat Suthat Thepwararam.
Mr Kowit said various activities are being planned to recreate the usual celebrations of the Songkran festival in all four regions of Thailand each April, among them a procession carrying Phra Phuttha Sihing, the revered image of the Gautama Buddha in Bangkok.
The image of Phra Phuttha Sihing will move from Lan Khon Mueang to the nearby temple for the water-bathing ritual every day during the seven-day celebrations, he said.
Anntonia Porsild, Miss Universe 2023 first runner-up, will join the procession and be dressed as Mahodhara Devi, the Nang Songkran goddess, for the main 2024 Songkran festival.