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  • 12
    Apr
    2012
    1:33pm, EDT

    Street water battles bring in the Thai new year

    Pornchai Kittiwongsakul / AFP - Getty Images

    Thai teenagers enjoy a water battle with foreign tourists during the Songkran Festival along the famous travelers' area of Khao San Road in Bangkok, on April 12. Songkran is the Thai New Year which starts on April 13 this year during which people celebrate by splashing water at each other.

    Pornchai Kittiwongsakul / AFP - Getty Images

    A foreign tourist takes part in water gun battles during the Songkran Festival along the famous travelers' area of Khao San Road in Bangkok on April 12. Songkran is the Thai New Year which starts on April 13 this year during which people celebrate by splashing water at each other.

    Pornchai Kittiwongsakul / AFP - Getty Images

    A Thai teenager enjoys a water battle with a foreign tourist during the Songkran Festival along the famous travelers' area of Khao San Road in Bangkok on April 12. Songkran is the Thai New Year which starts on April 13 this year during which people celebrate by splashing water at each other.

    Pornchai Kittiwongsakul / AFP - Getty Images

    A Thai teenager squirts a foreign tourist with water during the Songkran Festival along the famous travelers' area of Khao San Road in Bangkok on April 12. Songkran is the Thai New Year which starts on April 13 this year during which people celebrate by splashing water at each other.

    Slideshow: Good luck traditions for the new year

    Mariana Bazo / Reuters

    We may have different calendars, customs and beliefs, but most of us mark the arrival of a new year. Take a look at the ways cultures around the world celebrate and bring good luck for the year ahead.

    Launch slideshow

     

    In Bangkok, people armed with water guns and pails, soak each other with water as part of the annual Songkran water festival celebrations. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Follow @msnbc_pictures

    Comment

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    Explore related topics: thailand, new-year, songkran
  • 12
    Apr
    2011
    7:37am, EDT

    Causing a splash at the Songkran water festival

    Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA

    Thais dressed in Lanna (northern) traditional costumes douse each other with water to celebrate Songkran in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand on April 12.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    During the annual Songkran water festival, large groups of people splash water and throw powder at each other's faces as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the old year. The festival marks the traditional New Year in countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

    Rungroj Yongrit / EPA

    A Thai boy uses a water pistol to splash water on a foreign tourist to celebrate Songkran, also known as water festival in Bangkok, Thailand, 12 April 2011. The three-day Songkran festival is celebrated in Thai traditional as New Year's day with spraying water and putting powder on each others faces as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the old year.

    The authorities in Myanmar warned last week that revelers wearing "decadent" clothing to the festivities could face up to a month in prison, but that was not enough to put off at least one Burmese punk, below. 

    Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

    A teenager dressed as a punk takes part in the water festival at the Bogyoke Aung San Market Yangon, Myanmar on April 12.

     

    Comment

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    Explore related topics: thailand, asia, water, festival, myanmar, new-years, festivals, burma, songkran

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