ELMHURST — Celebrate the Thai New Year at a festival this weekend with dancing, food and a traditional ceremony to wash away last year’s sins.
The Songkran Day festival will be held Sunday, April 12 at 5 p.m. at Elmhurst Hospital, and is sponsored by Councilman Danny Dromm and the Wat Buddha Thai Thavorn Vanaram Temple in Elmhurst.
Local Thai restaurants — including Playground, Eim Khao Mun Kai, Ayada and SriPraPhai in Woodside — will provide more than 120 to-go boxes of food for guests to take with them after the show, according to Juttana “Moo” Rimreartwate, an organizer.
Singers and dancers from the temple will perform for the holiday, he said. Attendees will also get a chance to see the water ceremony, the most traditional aspect of Songkran celebration.
“It means new life, to get away from the old thing, or bad thing,” Rimreartwate said of the cleansing ritual.
Water will be handed out in people's hands to symbolize a better year.
“It’s to take care of yourself, make sure you have good luck,” he said.
