Word: songkran
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...spell has also sparked controversy within China with regard to whether or not the Dai people should hold Songkran, the New Year's festival celebrated in parts of East and Southeast Asia, in which lively water-splashing is a prominent feature. Duan Jinhua, head of the information office in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, announced that the fete would not be canceled, but that the sprinkling spree would be cut down from five hours to two. The government of the Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture, on the other hand, has decided to cancel official festivities and leave citizens...
...Calmer celebrations might bring back to memory the real reason for all the splashing: the promise of rain. Chinese scholars often trace the Songkran festival back to India. Classic Hindu texts describe water-splashing as a means of washing away sin on the occasion of the New Year, when deities would visit the land of the living. Since at this time the gods are so close, it is also an opportune moment to ask for precipitation; splashing therefore becomes a way of praying for plenty. By sprinkling water, the Dai, like the Indians before them, should be attempting to entice...
...with his poor ratings, making booze more expensive is political suicide. Brown's Thai counterpart Abhisit enjoys greater popularity among his people, but still cannot afford to anger them - not when his country's unemployment rate has (like Britain's) spiked sharply. But Abhisit needn't have worried. With Songkran fast approaching, the ban was scrapped - not because it was unfair to the responsible majority of Thai drinkers but because, like minimum pricing, there was no guarantee it would make any difference. Thais would either stockpile booze or buy it under the counter...
...related advertising, and - at a time when Britain was liberalizing its licensing laws to allow for round-the-clock drinking - restricted the sale of alcohol to only two periods: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to midnight. But Thailand's alcohol-control act has changed little. Take Songkran deaths: in 2007, 361 people died on the roads during the festival; in 2008, with the act in force, 360 died - only one life saved. More people are killed by drunk driving in Thailand in two weeks than in Britain in an entire year...
...about quick-fix, feel-good bans and start enforcing the laws you already have. In Britain, drunk driving causes 16% (rather than half, as in Thailand) of road deaths, thanks to a combination of strong policing, heavy penalties and shocking public-awareness campaigns. A three-day booze ban over Songkran will change nothing. Better policing will...