Thai New Year Festival returns to LA for a colorful celebration

By Maison Tran

Thousands of revelers filled Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday as Los Angeles celebrated its 16th annual Thai New Year Songkran Festival in Thai Town, bringing Thai cuisine from numerous vendors, traditional fashion, martial arts, music and dance performances.

Songkran, which falls on April 13 every year, is deeply rooted in Buddhist traditions and marks the beginning of the traditional Thai New Year. It comes from a phrase in the Sanskrit language that means “movement” or “astrological passage.”

While this L.A. event didn’t hold large-scale water fights the holiday is known for, there was still sprinkling along the parade route to symbolize blessings, renewal and purification, leaving last year’s troubles behind.

The festival kicked off in the morning with alms-giving for Buddhist monks, followed by a parade that featured floats with Thai motifs, flowers and cultural symbols as well as live performances from local cultural organizations. Those walking in the parade included artist group “Chan Krung,” motorcycle club Mad Hogs MC and even regular bystanders.

Annie Nunnapus Prasert, a Zumba instructor from Pasadena, took some of the women in her class to dress in matching traditional Thai clothing and celebrate.

“Whichever [group] was dancing, we just jumped in and danced,” Prasert said. “We just came to enjoy the festival with food, cool culture and seeing people.”

There were several stages that had performances throughout the day, including traditional choreography and musical acts. Bryan and Kenneth Khang, who are brothers from the Inland Empire, not only performed in the parade with Thai cymbals but also played a giant drum on stage called a klong sabat chai, which was used to rally people during wartime.

“This is our first time here. It’s pretty exciting,” Kenneth Khang said.

As the aroma of cooked meat swept over the street, hungry festival goers lined up nearly shoulder-to-shoulder for dishes like som tum papaya salad, mango sticky rice and even pad thai cooked in an enormous pan every hour, which the festival called the “World’s Largest Pad Thai.”

Although many enjoyed food and dancing, the Muay Thai bouts hosted by Major League Muay Thai drew the largest crowds, as hundreds gathered to watch fighters from across the state showcase their technique and compete in the national combat sport of Thailand.

There were also free Thai massages and a health fair that had free or low-cost basic health checks, blood pressure measurements, and blood sugar and cholesterol testing.

Despite increased police presence around the celebration following a deadly attack on a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, attendees came in and out of Hollywood Boulevard all the way until the event ended at 10 p.m.