SONGKRAN Chiang Mai The good thing about Thailand is that they celebrate three New Year Festivals per year. The Western New Year is celebrated with relish even though when the year changes to 2010 celebrating the birth of Christ 2,010 years ago by the Gregorian calendar, it changes to 2553 in the Buddhist calendar, celebrating the birth of Buddah 2,553 years ago. Chinese New Year is celebrated throughout Thailand because of the large ethnic Chinese community and the mixed ancestry throughout along with their financial influence. You can distinguish pure Thai from mixed because pure Thais always smile even if they just killed someone, whereas mixed will scowl if there is money involved and because of their emphasis on money they are financially more successful. Then Songkran, the Traditional New Year, is celebrated throughout South East
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