Songkran: the quiet half of the new year, and what you bring to it
The water in the street is the part everyone photographs. The part that decides what you should be carrying happens earlier in the day, indoors, when younger members of a family pour scented water over the hands of their elders and ask for a blessing in return.
Flowers belong to that half of the holiday, not to the one with the buckets.
Which changes what you should order. A gift for this morning is not meant to impress a room; it is handed over with two hands, at close range, to someone who is sitting down. Scale works against you there. A tall wrapped sheaf has to be manoeuvred, held awkwardly and then put somewhere, while a small dense piece or a garland passes cleanly from one pair of hands to another and stays in the frame of every photograph taken afterwards.
Formats that suit the gesture
A garland is the traditional shape and it is still the practical one. Small, tightly set blooms carry no long stems to keep supplied with water, so heat affects them far less, and it is worn or hung rather than needing a surface.
A low arrangement in a bowl or a lined box works for a household gift. It arrives finished, sits on a side table and needs nothing from anyone during a week when the house is full.
A potted orchid is the option to consider if you want the gift still alive in three months. Out of direct sun, watered lightly at the roots, it outlasts anything cut by a wide margin, and it suits an older recipient who would rather not be clearing dead stems out of a vase.
Colour, and what reads well
Jasmine white and marigold yellow are the shades associated with the holiday, and both photograph well against the wet, bright light of that time of year. Beyond them, warm tones hold their own in strong sunlight, while pale lilac and soft blue tend to wash out to grey in a photograph taken outdoors at noon.
Scent is part of the gift rather than an accident of it. Jasmine in particular is chosen for what it does to the air around a doorway.
Practical points for the hottest week of the year
The season itself is the main technical problem. A few things reduce the damage:
- keep the delivery in the early morning or after sunset, never in the middle of the day
- ask for a box with a soaked base instead of cellophane, so no stem sits dry in transit
- choose thick petalled varieties: orchid, anthurium, carnation, chrysanthemum
- put the piece well away from an air conditioning vent, which dries petal edges as fast as sun does
- keep it out of the street celebrations entirely, since chlorinated tap water spots pale petals
One more habit is worth adopting. Cut stems in this heat drink more in the first evening than in the whole rest of the week, so top the vase up that same night rather than waiting for the usual second day.
If you are sending to someone older in Bangkok, ask whether they will be at home for the morning of the holiday. Many families travel to their parents for these days, and a delivery to an empty flat in that heat is a loss rather than a delay.
