This Festival begins on the 13th of April and lasts between three and ten days depending on the region. The word ‘Songkran’ is derived from Sanskrit, meaning the beginning of a new Solar Year, but Thailand now celebrates the New Year on the 31st of December. Songkran is a Public Spring Cleaning Day, supported by the religious belief that anything old and useless must be thrown away or it will bring bad luck to the owner. During the afternoon of the 13th, Buddha images are bathed as part of the ceremony. It is an old belief that the ‘Nagas’, or mythical serpents, brought on rain by spouting water from the seas. The more they spouted, the more rain there would be.