By Jayden Whitworth

This year’s Songkran water festival is just around the corner, with the people of Thailand gearing up for their annual new year celebrations – and Thai nationals in Britain hoping to join in.

Songkran lasts for three days and will start on Wednesday, April 13, and end on Friday 15, with up to ten days of colourful celebration after it.

Songkran is commonly known as a water festival with water fights and splashing an important part of the celebration, but with Covid-19 regulations in place these celebrations have been limited in the past two years.

The first day of Songkran is known as ‘Song Nam Phra’ which translates as ‘pouring water on monks’. This is the day most of the water fights and splashing events happen.

The second day of Songkran is known as ‘Wan Nao’, translated to New Year’s Eve and is an opportunity for people to spend time with their families and friends.

On the final day, the new year known as ‘Wan Payawan’ begins with street food, concerts, parties, and water fights.

Nakorn Supanurat, president of the Thai student society at De Montfort University, said: “There are two ways of celebrating, religious and celebration. 

“In term of religious, people go to temples to pray and bathe the Buddha. 

“Some people go back to see their family and watering their seniors’ and parents’ hands. 

“Songkran is kind of like Christmas.

“It’s a long holiday in Thailand so it would be the best occasion to get back home and see family.”

Leicester has connections and a large following in Thailand because of the Thai ownership of Leicester City Football Club, with the team visiting Bangkok back in 2016. 

But as yet, Leicester as a city offers little by way of Songkran celebrations.

Nakorn said: “I don’t think we have any celebration in Leicester, but there might be a religious celebration in the Thai temple in Loughborough.”

With the threat of COVID-19 still rife across the globe, Songkran in Thailand is set to be disrupted for another year.

Nakorn said: “Covid-19 and environmental campaigns these past few years has meant there is a lot less water splashing going on.

“Usually, the most famous place people gather is Si Lom Road and Khao San Road in Bangkok.”

By Ben Stevens

One of the largest Indian community organisations in Leicester continues to serve the local area through hosting events and other charitable work.

The Shree Prajapati Association in Leicester hosts regular events and classes such as youth clubs and keep fit sessions for men and women and is well respected within the Gujarati community in the city.

The branch works with other Prajapati groups across the country to hold national events such as ‘Prajapati’s Got Talent’ earlier this month.

Yogesh Mistry, a member of the group, said: “We have always been very proud of our charity work and our work in the community.

“The events we have run have always been great fun and it’s fantastic to see people coming together to take part in them.

“It’s been hard to do what we normally do because of the pandemic but we have been holding a range of events both online and in-person.”

The Shree Prajapati Association in Leicester was officially formed in 1975 but its members were fundamental in forming the first Gujarati school in Leicester in the 1960s.

The foundation then began to slowly expand and in 1992 were able to acquire its own buildings for the first time and the site in Ulverscroft Road is still used today.

Many of the original members of the association had moved to the city from East Africa and India during the 1950s and 1960s and presently the majority of the members have connections to Gujarat in Western India.

Gujaratis have historically had significant ties with the United Kingdom.

The East India Company, which would ultimately become the basis for the formation of the British Raj, was founded in 1600 in Surat in Gujarat.