Sawatdi!

Songkran is the traditional New Year's celebration in Thailand. Originally derived from an Indian festival, songkran is a word derived from the Sanskrit sankranta which means 'to cross into'; a reference to that point in the sky when the Sun passes from Pisces to Aries, the time of the Vernal Equinox. Water is thrown at celebrants and is symbolic of washing away a person's sins and an act of purification - as the monk is doing in this photograph.

Today, Songkran was celebrated by the Thai community of Edinburgh in Portobello Town Hall with much delicious food, music and colour; a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday and a delightful contrast to the more restrained and formal methods of Christian worship in Scotland.