The Sangken festival is celebrated in

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

and parts of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, India and in Kachin,

Sagaing Sagaing (, ) is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located on the Irrawaddy River, to the south-west of Mandalay on the opposite bank of the river. Sagaing, with its numerous Buddhist monasteries, is an important religious and ...

region of

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

as the traditional New Year's Day from 14 to 16 April by the

Theravada Buddhist ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dhamma'' in th ...

Communities. It coincides with the New Year of many calendars. The Sangken festival is celebrated by the Khamti, Singpho, Khamyang, Tangsa tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, and Tai Phake, Tai Aiton, and Tai Turung communities of

. Sangken generally falls in the month of 'Nuean Ha', the fifth month of the year of the Tai

lunisolar calendar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, that combines monthly lunar cycles with the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months, there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of mont ...

coinciding with the month of April. It is celebrated in the last days of the old year and the New Year begins on the day just after the end of the festival.

New Year Traditions

The main attraction of the festival is splashing clean water, which is the symbol of peace and purity. The images of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

are taken out and after the ceremonial bath. The procession is accompanied by drums, dances and enjoyment. The holy bath of Buddha is an auspicious event in the festival. The celebration takes place for three consecutive days. During the celebration the locals make homemade sweet and distribute them. The exchange of gifts is also a common trait of the festival. There are festivals other than Sangken celebrated throughout the year calendar. Some of the festivals are namely: POI-PEE-MAU (Tai or Dai New Year), MAI-KASUNG-PHAI, KHAO-WA, POAT-WA, etc. Every festive occasion or celebration of the Buddhist people revolves around the principles and teachings of Buddha. All its socio-cultural activities have been truly religious. The essence of festivals lies in bringing people together and spreading the intrinsic values of their cultures and traditions. Being followers of Buddha, the Buddhist people are lovers of peace and harmony. Thus, Sangken has always unfolded the message of peace, harmony and unity. Their decency and craftsmanship and their cuisine reveal their love and taste of food, while their sports show their adeptness in the art of games. The Tai Phakes is a lesser known Buddhist population of Assam. With its microscopic existence of less than 2000 souls, they mostly dwell in villages. In a constantly changing world they have tried to keep up, all the while trying to maintain their ways of life, tradition and culture.

The Three Days

Before the beginning of the Sangken festival, a temporary shrine called 'Kyongfra' is constructed for keeping the idols of Buddha during Sangken. In this Kyongfra during Sangken, clean water is sprinkled through a specially designed water fountain called the 'Lungkong'. Clean and scented water poured through the fountain is sprinkled over the idols of Buddha kept inside the Kyongfra. This water, which has washed the Gods, is collected as holy water by the devotees. Sangken festival is celebrated for three consecutive days. On the first day and at an auspicious time, the images of Buddha are taken out of the shrine, given a ceremonial bath and placed in the 'Kyongfra’ to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals. People pray, offer sweets and food as offerings in the temple and then distribute sweets and goodwill amongst all by pouring water over each other. Water is also poured over all the holy objects, including the Boddhi tree, the Sailiks ropes of the holy book), Chausangphau-upuk and the Sammukathing. Water is also poured on Bhikkhus (monk) to invoke their blessings for good luck, good health, peace and harmony throughout the year. On the final day of the Sangken festival at the appointed time, the images are taken back to their original places and this marks the end of the old year. The Sangken festival marks a farewell to the old year and a warm welcome to the New Year. The New Year is welcomed with community prayers and feast during the ‘Poi Sangken’ celebrated after the end of the festival. This day is celebrated with great devotion and enthusiasm by all and marked by people going to the monastery to wash and clean up the shrine, idols and sprinkle holy water in the premises and a community feast which follows. This festival is dedicated to the worship of Buddha so that he can bless mankind with prosperity.

Related festivals

Poi cheng ken

Poi cheng ken is the traditional spring festival of the Tai-Ahom people observed in the Ahom month Duin-Ha of

Sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the gānzhī (干支) or stems-and-branches, is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus amounting to a total of sixty years every cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...

. This festival involves washing things especially bathing the household cattles, commemorates the ancestors and worshipping the insignia ''Chum Pha Rueng Sheng Mueang''. The rituals of Cheng Ken are described in the ancient manuscript ''Khyek Lai Bet''. As mentioned:

Songkran

Sangken is also seen to be celebrated abroad. Many Buddhist exist elsewhere where this festival is celebrated with enthusiasm. Sangken is celebrated as Songkran in other South East Asian countries. Songkran is a new year in the countries like Thailand, Laos, etc., while the Tai Phake celebrate Sangken to invoke the blessings of the Buddha for protection of the mankind from the evils, for peace, harmony, good luck and good health. 2007 Songkran Laplae 1

Notes

References

* {{authority control Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh Tribes of Assam Buddhist holidays April observances Observances on non-Gregorian calendars New Year celebrations Buddhist festivals in India New Year in India Social groups of Assam Water-splashing festivals