A Nightlife, That Is”
By THOMAS YOUNG & MAUREEN TOBIN Special to the Daily Press
THAI NEW YEAR — 2547 It is 2004 in Santa Monica, but in Thailand it is 2546.
Consider yourself privileged to live in the Los Angeles area, where many exotic, unique cultures merge with things decidedly American. A wonderful way to get a unique education is to immerse yourself in the customs, ways and traditions of other peoples and places.
Everyone should partake in the stimulating Thai New Year — Songkran Festival — also known as the “Water Festival.” On Sunday in “Thai Town,” Hollywood Blvd. will be closed between Western to Normandie avenues to celebrate this most exciting of festivals, attended by Isinthorn Sornvai — Consul-General, Royal Thai Consulate of L.A. — and Ubolratana — Her Highness, the Princess of Thailand. This event is free and open to the public. There will be a parade, booths, food, games, exhibitions, ceremonies — everything for a perfect day. Bring yourself, bring the family, bring your friends and seek out other ways of life and ethnicities. Much of the Thai culture revolves around Buddhism, the fourth-largest religion in the world.
According to Albert Einstein, “Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spiritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things — natural and spiritual — as a meaningful unity.”
The Songkran Festival is a time of great merrymaking and Thailand’s most sanuk (fun-filled) festival, celebrated with marvelous gusto once a year to mark the Thai New Year. Songkran derives from an old Sanskrit word meaning “Beginning of the Solar Year.” It is variously referred to as the “Beginning of the Lunar Year,” “The Start of the Returns of the Rains,” and, of course, “Thai New Year.” Songkran is a time for thanksgiving and gratitude, an important time for people to reflect on the acts of kindness, thoughtfulness, generosity and compassion from other people and how such acts bring about peace, happiness and a general well being. Songkran is also a time for family reunions.
The significance of the Songkran Festival, or the Festival of Water, is a time of cleansing and purification, a kind of riddance of all bad luck that has befallen one during the year, a time to start anew. Songkran Festival is legendary for its water-throwing, ranging from just splashing anyone and everyone with water guns and sprays to showering people with water hoses and buckets, all delivered with good spirits, of course. Everyone gets watered at this time, so expect to get a little wet at the festival.
Plan to spend the whole day at this festival. If you’re there at 8 a.m., you will be just in time for prayers by Buddhist Monks who’ll receive alms along Hollywood Blvd. Then, find a good viewing position as the Songkran Cultural Parade starts around 10 a.m. About noon, the Songkran Festival Opening Ceremony will officially begin. Take a journey into a new cultural experience with three stages of entertainment, 166 booths and activities for all ages. During this time, about 60 Thai restaurants will be preparing time-honored delicacies guaranteed to make your mouth water and your stomach growl with anticipation.
Did we mention entertainment? All around you there will be traditional dancers and singers, costume contests with a variety of cultural workshops and folk art. View Thai kickboxing or get a Thai massage. You may need one after a day of walking and eating. There will also be health care booths and an array of activities for children. Don’t forget to take home some handicrafts from local artists and souvenirs aplenty.
Drum roll, please. At 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., join chefs Tommy Tang and Jet Tila as they attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records by cooking the World’s Largest Pad Thai noodles dish They expect to make a 150-to 200-pound batch.
Treat yourself to this dramatic, eye-catching festival. At the end of the day, you will have a new perspective of the Thai people in Los Angeles. For more information, call 800- 921-2597 or visit www.thainewyear.com We interviewed Jet Tila, a well-known Thai chef who has written a couple books on Thai cooking. Jet told us, although there have been many smaller Los Angeles Thai events, this is the first time all the groups have come together for a large Thai New Year’s festival, which they plan to have yearly.
“Thailand celebrates the fact that it is one of the few countries that has never been colonized or occupied by a foreign power. This autonomy has helped shape the food, culture and religion into what it is,” said Tila. “Bangkok, capital city of Thailand, translates to “Great city of Angels,” just like Los Angeles is the “City of Angels.” Los Angeles has the largest Thai population outside of Thailand.
We wondered if there was a Thai national dish. Jet informed us: “Although there is no actual national food dish, Thailand has adopted the widely liked Pad Thai. Pad Thai in Thailand doesn’t have the unusual and wonderful orange hue it does here. In Thailand, Siracha is used to slightly color the Pad Thai and add heat. When Pad Thai immigrated to the U.S., paprika was used to give it its color.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2004. Read the original PDF.