In 2018 the Thai cabinet extended the festival nationwide to seven days, 9–16 April, to enable citizens to travel home for the holiday.

[5] In 2024, Songkran was extended to almost the entire month, starting on the first of April, and ending on the twenty-first, departing from the traditional 3-day format.

The astrologers, local or royal, then make predictions about the economy, agriculture, rainfall, and political affairs according to observations between both days.

[18] The king, or Chief Royal Astrologer on the monarch's behalf, issued an official notification on the new year to the public.

[19] The government strictly adhered to the announcement and arranged some ceremonies according to the computation made by the royal astrologer.

Nowadays the royal palace has ceased to issue the Prakat Songkran, replacing it with a small calendar booklet given to the public on New Year's Day.

[28] In 2013, the Chiang Mai Provincial Council decided to defy the government-set holiday by rescheduling the ceremony according to the correct calculation.

The origin of songkran festival lies in a Buddhist folk myth or non canonical jataka related to harvest and spring.

Once upon a time, Indra the king of Devas, looked at the city from heaven, and felt sad seeing the high level of corruption.

With affirmation of this truth, people in the city immediately lost their glory, no proper rains, water and food scarcity prevailed, extreme drought with skin-burning hot sun waves and dirty bad smelling garbage filled their homes.

They used to apply several colours of thanaka powder and water is poured to cool their body from heavy sun waves.

By affirmation of this truth immediately their lost glory was restored back and the people elected bodistva as their leader and celebrated the harvest day with throwing water on each other and started playing with several colours of thanaka powder by applying it on each other's body.

Thus, in Buddhist community in South East Asia, to remember and celebrate this day, people clean their houses, salute and show respect to their elders by washing their feets, serving delicious food and proper clothing to them.

He lay beneath a sugar palm tree and overheard a conversation between a pair of eagles who planned to eat his corpse when he lost the bet.

[14] Every year when the Sun enters Aries, one of Kapila Brahma's children, called the Nang Songkran (Thai: นางสงกรานต์, lit.

The three colonels named Put, Thep Rat and Chan marched the parade with the pairs of flocks by walking and riding the horses.

The archive written in 1854 by Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix, a priest of the Société des Missions Etrangères who was assigned as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic and lived in Siam.

Said in French:- Ils ont en outre, durant le cours de l'année, plusieurs jours de fêtes civiles ou religieuses, qu'ils célèbrent avec grande pompe : 1°Songkran; c'est leur nouvel an, qui tombe ordinairement dans leur cinquième mois; on le célèbre pendant trois jours; ce n'est qu'à cette époque que le peuple apprend des astro-logues, si l'ange de l'année monte un tigre, un bœuf, un ours, un cheval; une chèvre, un dragon ou quelque autre animal.

On this specific occasion, performing water pouring on Buddha statues and the young and elderly is a traditional ritual, representing purification and the washing away of one's sins and bad luck.

[42] South: southerners have three Songkran rules: Work as little as possible and avoid spending money; do not hurt other persons or animals; do not tell lies.

North: on 7 April, Baan Had Siew in Si Satchanalai District hosts the'Elephant Procession Ordination' event with a colourful parade where men dressed in the traditional clothes are taken to the temples on elephants.

People have to go to temple to make merit and bathe Buddha's statue and after that they pour water on the hands of elders and ask for their blessings.

[45] At the festival of Songkran, which marks the beginning of the old Siamese solar year, it is the custom to bathe the images of the Buddha and also the monks and old people.

The festival is celebrated as Sangken in northeastern areas of India and as Bizu, Boisuk, Shangrai, and Boisabi in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, which is the traditional New Year's Day by the indigenous Hindu people and Buddhist community.

Vishu, a Hindu religious festival, celebrated mainly in the South Indian State of Kerala (and some parts of Tamil Nadu), also falls during the same timeframe.

In some villages in south India, especially Karnataka, a festival called "Okhali" or "Okhli" is celebrated in which every household keeps a barrel of water mixed with chalk and turmeric to throw on passers-by.

Songkran is celebrated annually on the U.S. territory of Wake Island by Air Force members and American and Thai contractors,[52] including New York State for commemorating the Asian American community's celebration of Songkran on April as an important cultural event on the state according to Assembly Resolution No.

[56] The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) says a total of 110,909 people were arrested and 5,772 vehicles impounded at road safety checkpoints across the country between 9–16 April 2016.

However, controversy emerged when the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Deputy Governor for Tourism Products, Vilaiwan Twichasri, claimed that Thailand holds exclusive rights to celebrate Songkran and planned to consult with officials at the Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Culture to discuss a potential lawsuit.

[67] On 25 March 2014, the Bangkok Post reported that the Singaporean government had intervened in the festival's content and there would be no water-throwing, no water pistols and no public drinking.