Songkran Festival Research Articles

The dilemma between cultural rituals and hedonism for tourism in a cultural festival: a case study of the Lanna Songkran festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

PurposeThe qualitative approach was applied the discover the optimum answers to the research objectives, which are (1) to understand the cultural and hedonistic characteristics of the (Lanna) Songkran festival; and (2) to examine the dilemma between cultural rituals and hedonistic activity for tourism.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a case study of the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai to examine the dilemma between cultural rituals and hedonism for tourism, which brings lost or misperceived cultural values and identities. The semi-structured interview (SSI) with senior locals and participant observation during the festival was conducted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to obtain the in-depth phenomena of the existing celebration pattern at the festival.FindingsThe study findings show three crucial phenomena that explain characteristics of unsynchronized cultural rituals and hedonistic activities for tourism: (1) the parallel phenomenon between cultural values and celebration practice, (2) the movement of local culture and(3) the hedonistic characteristics of the festival.Practical implicationsThe study extends the knowledge on the interplay phenomena between cultural festivals and tourism; also, the involved stakeholders, such as local communities, public sectors and private sectors, can use the study findings in creating policies for using cultural festivals to promote a destination and urban economic development that will minimise cultural values distort while increase tourism economic values.Originality/valueThis study was conducted qualitatively, including SSIs and participant observation at the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai. The study findings were analysed, based on the empirical data, into significant themes representing the characteristics of dilemma phenomena within the festival.

Risk Prediction Model of Road Accidents During Long Holiday in Thailand Using Ensemble Learning with Decision Tree Approach

The rate of injury and death from traffic accidents during the New Year and Songkran Festival each year has high and are continuously on the increase. The researchers, therefore, has decided to study and develop a model for predicting the road accident risk during the holiday season with ensemble learning based on decision tree approach. The aim is to help reduce accidents and loss of life caused by road accidents. The dataset used in this research is traffic accidents resulting in injury and death data during the long holiday from 2008 to 2015 from hospitals across the country, accumulatively recorded by the National Institute for Emergency Medicine. Thisresearch compared the efficiency of data classification to find the best ensemble model for predicting traffic accident risk. The methods studied included Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost), and Random Forest, and the decision tree techniques used in the experiment were J48, ID3, and CART. The results of experiment and comparisons of classification efficiency showed that the Random Forest algorithm with J48 decision tree was the most efficient model, providing an accuracy of up to 93.3%.

The Cocreation of the Songkran Festival in Thailand And the Codestruction of Its Cultural Significance

This article investigated the codestruction of cultural significance through the cocreation and evolution of a hallmark cultural event, using the Songkran Festival, Thailand, as a case study. The Songkran Festival began within an agricultural society rooted in Buddhist cultural inheritance. Traditionally, Thai people cocreated the celebration by offering food to monks ( Puñña ), and releasing fish or birds on Maha Songkran (i. e., the last day of the previous year) in April. They built sand pagodas or Chedi Sai at Buddhist temples to compensate for sand that was removed under their feet over the previous year. They also reunited with family by traveling back to their hometowns to pay respects to family elders and ancestors. After that, they would pour water from a silver bowl onto each other's shoulders as a sign of blessing, and the water represented wishes for good rainfall for the New Year's harvest. The cocreation between tourism sectors, local businesses, and the festival stakeholders transformed festivities into foam parties, special events, and leisure activities to stimulate tourism demand and to generate economic benefit. Consequently, these new celebrating practices codestructed the cultural significance and core values of the Songkran Festival. Therefore, this study sought to understand the evolution and cocreation phenomena in the festival that leads to codestruction of its cultural significance and core values through document analysis and semistructured interviews. The findings were thematically reported into four crucial themes that present key characteristics of codestructed cultural significance in the Songkran Festival: social change, public participation, the proliferation of leisure activities for economic gain, and commercialization of the Songkran Festival. The implications of this study contribute to expanding the understanding of the coexistence between cocreation and codestruction phenomena in cultural events.

Modeling road accident fatalities with underdispersion and zero-inflated counts.

In 2013, Thailand was ranked second in the world in road accident fatalities (RAFs), with 36.2 per 100,000 people. During the Songkran festival, which takes place during the traditional Thai New Year in April, the number of road traffic accidents (RTAs) and RAFs are markedly higher than on regular days, but few studies have investigated this issue as an effect of festivity. This study investigated the factors that contribute to RAFs using various count regression models. Data on 20,229 accidents in 2015 were collected from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Thailand. The Poisson and Conway-Maxwell-Poisson (CMP) distributions, and their zero-Inflated (ZI) versions were applied to fit the data. The results showed that RAFs in Thailand follow a count distribution with underdispersion and excessive zeros, which is rare. The ZICMP model marginally outperformed the CMP model, suggesting that having many zeros does not necessarily mean that the ZI model is required. The model choice depends on the question of interest, and a separate set of predictors highlights the distinct aspects of the data. Using ZICMP, road, weather, and environmental factors affected the differences in RAFs among all accidents, whereas month distinguished actual non-fatal accidents and crashes with or without deaths. As expected, actual non-fatal accidents were 2.37 times higher in April than in January. Using CMP, these variables were significant predictors of zeros and frequent deaths in each accident. The RAF average was surprisingly higher in other months than in January, except for April, which was unexpectedly lower. Thai authorities have invested considerable effort and resources to improve road safety during festival weeks to no avail. However, our study results indicate that people's risk perceptions and public awareness of RAFs are misleading. Therefore, nationwide road safety should instead be advocated by the authorities to raise society's awareness of everyday personal safety and the safety of others.

A Taxi Trajectory and Social Media Data Management Platform for Tourist Behavior Analysis

Taxis are commonly used by tourists to travel around unfamiliar cities they visit. These taxis today have GPS devices, which can then be used to collect a significant amount of data on the movement of tourists. One problem with this idea, however, is the question of how to extract that movement data from the raw GPS data, which includes a lot of other data, such as vehicle IDs, timestamps, and speeds, etc. The purpose of this research is to propose a data management platform to process heterogeneous data including taxi data, social media data, and place data for tourist behavior analysis. We propose a data pipeline that can be scaled in order to process a significant amount of data regarding taxi trajectory and social media, with two objectives. The first objective is to extract the tourist trajectory data from the raw GPS data and produce a data integration module enriched with a knowledge base of tourist trajectories. This knowledge base is constructed through the extension of semantic trajectory ontology (STO) and mobility behavior ontology (MBO). The second objective is to extract tourist activities/point of interests (POIs) from geo-tagged Twitter data. The results of the data pipeline can readily be used for tourist behavior analysis, such as tourist descriptive analysis, popular tourist destinations/zones, and tourist movement patterns identification. We leverage the study’s results to demonstrate the real-life case study in Bangkok during the Songkran Festival in 2019. Thus, we could precisely identify tourist movement during various periods, determine popular destinations/zones, discover high density density of taxi destination points for a given trajectory type, and display the top ten tourist destinations, as well as prominent tourism keywords or trends at the time. This can provide insight to governments and businesses related to tourism regarding the trajectories and activities of tourists, and it will help predict future tourism trends.

Examining the interplay between a hallmark cultural event, tourism, and commercial activities: A case study of the Songkran Festival

Using a case study of the Songkran festival, this study explores the transformation of cultural practices through the interplay between a hallmark cultural event, tourism, and commercial activities. A methodological triangulation technique involving document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation was used to pursue the study's aim. A comprehensive model representing the co-creation and co-destruction of cultural practices in a hallmark cultural event is then presented. The model demarcates four phenomena: 1) discouraging commercialisation interplay, 2) supportive interplay, 3) discouraging cultural practices interplay, and 4) parallel phenomenon. Additionally, the study discovered that cultural event management also involves management of spatial and temporal dimensions. The study's findings should encourage stakeholders of cultural events to develop clear roadmaps when planning the long-term development of cultural events. This ensures that any loss of cultural significance can be minimised while also meeting the needs and expectations of different stakeholders.

The development, implementation and challenges to water-saving practices in a water-stressed destination: a case study of the Songkran Festival, Thailand

PurposeThe contradiction between the purpose of the water-splashing tradition, the use of water in a water-stressed destination and overconsumption during a time of water shortage led the researchers to question the spirit of the Songkran Festival. It is important to keep the spirit of the festival alive without interrupting the livelihoods of the community and to critically engage with opportunities and challenges related to water-saving practices during the festival. Thus, this study aims to investigate the opportunities and challenges to responsible practices of water-saving at a cultural festival, using a case study of the water-splashing practice at the Songkran Festival in Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the cultural practice, namely, the water-splashing tradition at the Songkran Festival in Thailand, as a case study. The researchers conducted document analysis on local newspapers, the Bangkok Post specifically and participant observation at the Songkran Festival in the Khao San Road area in Bangkok, to gain first-hand insights to develop comprehensive results which answers the study’s objectives.FindingsThe key findings show three significant themes representing the opportunities for implementing sustainable water-saving practices; a call for a water-saving campaign, education on water saving and water-splashing restrictions. In terms of challenges to implementing water-saving practices, two key themes emerged; a lack of water stress and drought awareness and the hedonistic characteristic of water splashing. The study findings provide important implications to theory and practice for sustainable event management and provide considerations for event stakeholders to minimise water overuse in festivals.Originality/valueEnvironmental degradation is a key global issue that the United Nations addresses in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) scheme (United Nations Development Program, 2016). According to Pereira et al. (2009), water scarcity can be caused by both human activities and natural causes. Factors such as unlimited water consumption, population growth and climate change are some of the contributing factors that not only affects resident's access to water but also on events hosted within communities. It is crucial that event managers critically re-think the way festivals are designed in water-stressed destinations.

Effect of the Songkran festival on COVID-19 transmission in Thailand

Effect of the Songkran festival on COVID-19 transmission in Thailand

주민주도형 전통문화축제의 문화거버넌스 구조에 대한 연구: 태국 쏭크란 축제 사례로

본 연구는 태국의 세계적 축제인 ‘송크란 축제’를 전통문화 계승이라는 차원에서 중요성을 인식하고 축제의 참여주체를 문화거버넌스 관점에서 분석하여 이를 이론적으로 체계화한 모형을 구축하기 위한 연구이다. 연구주제 분야 선행연구 자료 및 관련 문헌을 1차 분석한 후, 현재 태국을 왕래하는 연구자의 송크란 축제 경험을 기반으로 태국의 전통문화를 계승한 송크란 축제의 유래에서부터 프로그램, 참여자, 특징 등 실무적 관점의 2차 분석과 실질적으로 송크란 축제를 주관하는 태국 관광청(TAT)의 자료를 3차 병행 조사하여 전통문화 축제를 매개로 정부, 기업, 시민의 역할과 상호관계성을 분석하였다. 연구결과, 이 축제의 가장 두드러진 특징은 전통과 현대 놀이가 결합되기까지 자발적 시민참여가 두드러졌다는 점이며, 전통 의식을 치르던 행위가 축제의 모습으로 완성되기까지 시민들의 자연스러운 물놀이 참여 활동이 중심이었으며 전통문화를 재해석하여 현대적으로 계승하고 있는 점이다. 매년 이러한 자발적 시민참여 축제가 거듭되면서 관광객의 참여로 이어지고 여기에 정부의 전통문화 보호차원의 지원까지 상호호혜적 협력관계가 구축되었다. 또한 태국 정부는 각종 행사를 주최하고 기업의 참여를 적극 활용하며 태국의 대표 맥주인 싱하맥주와 세계적 브랜드인 코카콜라, 펩시콜라 등 물과 관련한 기업을 연계하고 있는데 2019년 송크란은 약 7,000억의 수익을 거두는 등 마케팅 측면에서도 큰 성과를 거주고 있다. 태국의 전통문화를 매개로 한 쏭크란 축제를 통해 국가, 지역주민, 기업 모두가 상호 win-win하며 태국의 전통문화를 세계인들이 함께 하는 관광산업으로 발전시키는데 핵심 역할을 하고 있는 연구의 결과가 우리나라 전통문화콘텐츠의 중요성 및 활용과 축제 발전에 기여하기를 기대한다.

Festival Air (Songkran): Komodifikasi Budaya di Thailand

<p><em>This research aims to want to see the occurred on the discourse of cultural commodification of Songkran in Thailand. Songkran in Thailand is a religious and cultural festival, which is the celebration of New Year in Thailand. Culture of Songkran festival which then becomes bringing many foreign tourists come to some areas in Thailand like Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket. This great Festival and then give effect to social, cultural as well as the economy on local community. The methods used in this study is a qualitative descriptive based on the experiences both of the author. The data analyzed i.e. secondary data that comes from a variety of scientific journals, then the primary data are analyzed based on the author’s experience when on the Songkran festival in Thailand on April, 2019. Based on the analysis that the commodification of culture happens to Songkran in Thailand is not so much to erode the authenticity of rituals. This means that the core rituals such as bathing the Buddha statues in the temples still do. Commodification is a positive impact on the local community, where on area of the festival they provided tubs for sale in range 5 THB to 15 THB. Then, foreign tourists are pouring in from various countries are also effect on the local community economy.</em></p>

Local Folk Games and Health Promotion: Case Study, Saba Tossing Game of Thai Raman People in Ongkarak District, Nakornnayok Province

The objective of this research is to study the results of health promotion by playing the local folk game: Case study of playing Saba of the Thai Raman folks in Ongkarak district of Nakornnayok province and to find the guidelines in developing folk game: Case study of playing Saba of the Thai Raman folks in Ongkarak district of Nakornnayok province, promoting good health for the communities in Ongkarak district. The sample group consisted of fitness specialists, people involved in health promotion and the local Thai Raman players of the local Saba folk game in Ongkarak district. Collected data by observation and in-depth interviews. Analyzed results with content analysis techniques. It is found from the study that: 1) The playing of Saba folk game of the Thai Raman folks in Ongkarak district is popularly played during the Songkran festival. Participants in the competition consist of local folks in Ongkarak sub-district, such as locals from the sub-districts of Chomphol and from Phra-Ajarn communities, and people from other districts of Pathumthani, Nonthaburi and Bangkok, etc. 2) The Saba tossing game has the result of an exercise, not less than playing Petanque, if played continuously, having good effect on the functioning of the muscles. 3) Guideline in developing the folk game: Case study of playing Saba game, promoting good health for the local communities in Ongkarak district, should be of joint efforts from 3 units: Public Health unit providing information, linking exercise by playing Saba game in promoting good health. Administrative unit should provide the sports ground suitable for Saba game and arranges Saba tossing competition for drug prevention and the Educational unit should arrange as sports activities in the schools. The 3 units should then jointly collect the data concerning health conditions of those playing the Saba game, to study the data, developing the reduction of risk of illness continuously.

High blood alcohol concentration associated with traumatic brain injury among traffic injury patients during New Year festivals in Thailand

Objective: Road traffic injury (RTI) is one of the most significant public health problems in Thailand, especially during New Year and Songkran (Thai traditional New Year) holidays, which have the highest traffic density during the entire year. Drunk driving was reported to be one of the leading causes of RTI in Thailand. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of patients with high blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and the association of BAC and specific organ injury during New Year and Songkran (Thai traditional New Year) holidays.Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed to analyze the database from the Thai Governmental Road Safety Evaluation Project. Patient data on RTIs were collected from 26 main provincial hospitals during the New Year Festival 2003 and 2004 and Songkran Festival in 2003. Patient characteristics, type of organ injured, and BAC levels were mainly analyzed.Results: During those long holidays, 2,642 RTI patients were identified, among whom 1,341 patients had high BAC levels. High BAC levels were associated with motorcycle users, male sex, middle age, teenagers, being riders or drivers, and not using protective devices. Moreover, high BAC levels were associated with brain injury.Conclusion: Excessive alcohol consumption and RTIs occurred on New Year and Songkran Festival in Thailand. Legislation should be strictly used during these long holidays to control driving under the influence of alcohol, particularly among motorcyclists.

異文化理解に視点をおいた国際理解教育 : 教材開発例「タイの水かけ祭り」(第3学年)( 新たなる社会科授業の創造)

異文化理解に視点をおいた国際理解教育 : 教材開発例「タイの水かけ祭り」(第3学年)( 新たなる社会科授業の創造)

Exploring Tourists’ Push and Pull Travel Motivations to Participate in Songkran Festival in Thailand as a Tourist Destination: A Case of Taiwanese Visitors

Exploring Tourists’ Push and Pull Travel Motivations to Participate in Songkran Festival in Thailand as a Tourist Destination: A Case of Taiwanese Visitors

Tourism and the transformation of ritual practice with sand pagodas in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

Purpose – This study aims to examine the transformation process in traditional beliefs and practices in the use of sand in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses historical and ethnographic methods to understand the transformation of the sand rituals in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai. The historical approach is used to investigate the past ritual practices of the sand pagoda, while the ethnographic approach is used to gather evidence about the recent practices surrounding the construction and deployment of the sand pagoda; the historical and archival research for this study has also accessed material from newspapers and photographs. Because observation and interviews are major methods of ethnographic research, participant observation at the sand pagoda rituals in the Songkran Festival was conducted, as well as interviews with the relevant interest groups to collect data on the rituals and the recent changes in these practices. Findings – The transformation process in the traditional beliefs and practices surrounding the construction of sand pagodas in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, is a result of the influence of tourism, the development of a market economy and the accompanying commoditisation process and secularisation and the decline of Buddhism in the local communities in Chiang Mai. Research limitations/implications – This study has implications for other religious practices which have become increasingly staged and reinvented in the process of tourism development. It only examines one among many other elements in the increasingly touristic secularisation of formerly religious beliefs and practices. Practical implications – The paper contributes to an expanding literature on the transformation of traditional rituals as a consequence of external factors, especially tourism promotion and the ways in which formerly sacred spaces and activities become commoditised. Originality/value – This is the first study which focuses on the transformation of practices surrounding sand pagodas in the Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai, in relation to the promotion of tourism, processes of commoditisation and the declining importance of Buddhism.

Tendency of assaulted casualties during Songkran festival

BackgroundThe Songkran Festival is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April. In recent years during songkran festival there have been higher numbers of...

Characteristics concerning to road traffic accident during Songkran festival among population in zone 5, 2004

BackgroundSongkran festival declared as ‘Family day’ for all Thais. Millions of Thais who live and work in different places will return home and a chance of road traffic accidents.Aim/Objectives/PurposeThe objective...

Helmet Use and Associated Factors among Thai Motorcyclists during Songkran Festival

The aim of this study was to assess helmet use and associated factors among motorcycle riders during Songkran festival in Thailand. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of helmet use among Thai motorcycle riders (sample size = 18,998) during four days of the Songkran festival. For this sample, the population of motorcycle riders was consecutively selected using quota sampling from 12 petrol stations in four provinces from each of the four main geographical regions of Thailand. The study was conducted at petrol stations at roads in town, outside town and highway at different time intervals when trained field staff administered a structured questionnaire and performed an observation checklist. Results indicate that 44.2% of the motorcycle riders and 72.5% of the motorcycle passengers had not been using a helmet. In multivariable analysis demographics, environmental factors, helmet use experiences and attitudes and recalling a lower exposure to road safety awareness (RSA) campaign were associated with non-helmet use among motorcyclists. It appears that the RSA campaign may have some positive effect on reducing non-helmet use among motorcycle riders during the Songkran festival.

Non-seatbelt use and associated factors among Thai drivers during Songkran festival

BackgroundRoad traffic accidents are the second largest cause of burden of disease in Thailand, largely attributable to behavioural risk factors including drinking and driving, speeding, substance abuse and failure to use seatbelts. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of non-seatbelt use among drivers during Songkran festival in Thailand.MethodsA cross-sectional survey has been performed to determine the prevalence of seatbelt use among Thai drivers (N=13722) during four days of the Songkran festival. For this sample the population of drivers was consecutively selected from 12 petrol stations in four provinces from each of the four main geographical regions of Thailand. The study was conducted at petrol stations at roads in town, outside town and highway at different time intervals when trained field staff administered a structured questionnaire and performed an observation checklist on seat belt use.ResultsAn overall prevalence of 28.4% of non-seatbelt use among drivers was found. In multivariable analysis demographics (being male, younger age, coming from the Northern or Southern region in Thailand), environmental factors (earlier during the Songkran festival, in the morning and late evening and on main roads in town), seatbelt use experiences and attitudes (having been in an accident before, never having used a seatbelt, no intention to use a seatbelt, lack of awareness of danger of non-seatbelt use and lower perceived risk of being caught with non-seatbelt use) and lower exposure to road safety awareness (RSA) campaign (less frequent exposure to RSA campaign, less frequent following of RTI statistics and not talking with others about the RSA campaign) were associated with non-seatbelt use.ConclusionRates of non-seatbelt use by Thai drivers during Songkran festival was 28.4%. Lower exposure to the RSA campaign was found to be associated with non-seatbelt use among drivers during the Songkran festival.

Apply hospital incident command to manage multiple casualties during New Year and Songkran Festival

ObjectiveTo evaluate the modified Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) used to mange Multiple Casualty during New Year and Songkran Festival.BackgroundA New Year and Songkran Festival are the long holidays that...