"Songkran - Thai New Year" has been shared to the blog from the French reading practice section of the learning library where you can find a large selection of interactive texts to help you with your reading skills. This article also has audio for you to practice your French listening skills; you can find many more listening activities in the French listening exercises section.
Did you know that Thailand celebrates New Year’s in mid-April? Learn about the unique festival of Songkran in this bilingual article.
Click any phrase for the English translation and links to related French lessons.
Part 1
Audio PlayerPart 2
Audio Player- What's this?
Songkran - Le nouvel an thaïlandais
Le Nouvel An bouddhiste est appelé « Songkran », qui vient du mot sanskrit signifiant « passer dans ». Songkran est célébré en Birmanie (d'où il est originaire), au Cambodge, au Laos et au Viêt Nam, mais les célébrations les plus insolites ont lieu en Thaïlande, ce qui explique pourquoi on l'appelle souvent le Nouvel An thaïlandais.
Traditionnellement fêté du 13 au 15 avril, Songkran est le plus long festival de Thaïlande, et célèbre la spiritualité et les bonnes actions. Les gens visitent des temples et font l'aumône aux moines, et l'eau joue un rôle clé en tant que symbole de purification et de rejuvénilisation. Elle est versée sur les statues de Bouddha et sur les mains des aînés. Mais le rituel le plus célèbre est la bataille d'eau collective. Il y a également des défilés traditionnels, un concours de beauté « Miss Songkran », ainsi que d'autres traditions qui varient selon la région.
Take a free proficiency test to find out your French level, then track your progress with 10 free micro tests a month!
Author info
Laura is a French expert and Kwiziq's Head of Quality Control. Online educator since '99, Laura is passionate about language, travel, and cooking. She's American by birth and a permanent ex-pat by choice - freelancing made it possible for her to travel extensively and live in several countries before settling permanently in Guadeloupe. Laura is the author of Lawless French, Lawless Spanish, and other websites and books on French, Spanish, Italian, English, and vegetarianism. She spends most of her spare time reading, playing with food, and enjoying water sports.
Aurélie is our resident French Expert. She has created most of the wonderful content you see on the site and is usually the person answering your tricky help questions. She comes from a small village near Chartres in Central France, country of cereal fields and not much else. She left (in a hurry) to study English at the world-famous Sorbonne in Paris, before leaving France in 2007 to experience the “London lifestyle” - and never looked back! She's worked as a professional French teacher, translator and linguist in the UK since. She loves to share her love of languages and is a self-professed cinema and literature geek!