name of thailands new year festival in april
Songkran (Thailand) Songkran (Thai: เทศกาลสงกรานต์, pronounced [tʰêːt.sā.kāːn sǒŋ.krāːn]) is the Thai New Year's national holiday. Songkran is 13 April every year, but the holiday period extends from 14–15 April. In 2018 the Thai cabinet extended the festival nationwide to five days, 12–16 April, to enable citizens to travel home for the holiday.[1] The word "Songkran" comes from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti (Devanāgarī: संक्रांति),[2] literally "astrological passage", meaning transformation or change. The term was borrowed from Makar Sankranti, the name of a Hindu harvest festival celebrated in India in January to mark the arrival of spring. It coincides with the rising of Aries on the astrological chart[3] and with the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia, in keeping with the Buddhist/Hindu solar calendar.
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year,[a][2] also known as the Spring Festival in modern China,[b] is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of several Lunar New Years in Asia. Celebrations traditionally run from the evening preceding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between January 21 and February 20[3] In 2018, the first day of the Lunar New Year was on Friday, 16 February, initiating the year of the Dog.