Sanook mai?

I spent the past week celebrating Songkran - Thai New Year in my village. It was so much fun at the same time, I learned a lot just by waking up at 6 am, being present, and just smiling. First of all, the holiday usually starts with visiting the nearest Temple and paying respect to the Monks by bringing food, getting blessings from the Monk and praying together. I appreciate the fact that my host Mom woke me up and wanted me to go together even though she knows that I am not of the Buddhist 'religion'. And even for myself, never in my life did I think I would be so immersed in a religious culture that is different than mine. I can sincerely say that every moment I am touched by how much Buddhism effect the way people act and carry themselves every day.

I think, in so many ways people have become so disconnected with the pure and genuine nature of a religion whether it is Islam, Christianity, Judaism that so many aspects of it have become so hypocritical. But here, there is no definition, what is good and bad is not defined in terms of the Religion... its just PART OF THEIR LIFE. There is no " a good Buddhist" that goes to the Wat and pray everyday or a " bad buddhist" who does not feel like waking up at 6am. People just live their life to the fullest extent that aligns with the fundamentals of Buddhism...there is just no questioning, judging or defining which I have come to respect highly.

Moving on, after making sure I caught up on some sleep, I got taken to Wats (temples) one after another, not to pay respect or anything but to have huge dance parties. This is when I would get drenched in water, because another huge part of Sonkran is pouring water and powder all over people. And at these huge Wat parties, they used fire-truck hoses to splash water on everyone; therefore in matters of 5 minutes after my arrival, I would be SOAKED. Well with the weather being like 110F you just LOVE it!

There were also days where tons of people came to my house to pay respect to my host Mom and Dad who are in their late 60s/70s. As everyone take their chances to pay respect, pour water on their hands and bow to the elderly, the elderly in exchange tie a 'luck string' around the wrist of everyone as they say prayers to shun away evil spirits. For me, I enjoyed every aspect of it but it also made me miss holidays at Home with grandparents, cousins, brothers and sisters. I cannot tell you the last time I had an actual Eid with all of my family members...I miss them very much!

Regardless of all the fun, I did have some down moments. Sometimes, you just don't want to go, sometimes you just want to have a moment to your self, think, read, watch tv and not be with 100 people that ask you " Sanook Mai? Is it fun?" every 5 minutes ; Then, no matter how sweaty, uncomfortable, tired, brain fried you are from trying to understand/speak Thai, you put on a smile and say " Sanook Mak (soo much fun)".
I cannot tell you how many times I had to turn my "smile" face on and remind myself, ITS ALL PART OF THE EXPERIENCE