Bradley Shaw, SongKran Festival the Blessing. (Doco/Photojournalism (2019))

Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai Thailand is the main location where locals and tourists join together to welcome in the Thai New Year with a large scale water fight. The copious use of water started with locals pouring a small amount of fragrance mixed water over symbols or images of buddha as a blessing for good luck. The blessing over the years has then morphed into a large scale water fight where the water is instead dragged from a murky moat that surrounds the old part of town, mixed with large blocks of ice in metal drums, then thrown or squirted at cars and tourists as they pass by. To the tourist this ritual of achieving good luck is welcomed by not swallowing the murky moat water or taking a direct hit in the eyes.

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