Songkran In Pattaya

For every rule there has to be an exception and when it comes to Songkran it's Pattaya. Why is it that they celebrate the festival on April 19 while the rest of the country celebrates it on the 13th? It was proving nearly impossible to answer as no-one seemed to know why, it was just the custom. Finally a good friend and long time Pattaya resident, Khun Panga Vathanakul, Managing Director of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort told me the story behind this custom.

In Chonburi Songkran is celebrates Sonkran on a Wan Lai principal. That means the day floats and is celebrated in different cities on different days. Although Pattaya is Chonburi Provinces most famous town it is not the provincial capital, Chonburi Town is. It is quite natural that the first day of celebration should be in the provincial capital- Muang Chonburi. On 16th April it moves to Sri Ratcha, and on the 17th to Sattahip. The next day 18th April it is the turn of Banglamung and Naklua before it finally arrives into Pattaya on 19th April.

That is the theory but the problem is that there are so many visitors in Pattaya over Songkran that are think the festivals start on 13th the there are street water battles for more than a week. And that is also during the Pattaya Festival April 14-19.