Thai New Year at Saba
We’re celebrating the Thai New Year or Songkran, at Saba. It’s a special time for our chefs! The Thai New Year celebrations are about spending time with family and friends and food plays a big part in the festivities.
First, we’ll tell you about some of the festive traditions – then we’ll tempt you with some special dishes we’ve created for you.
The Songkran festival สงกรานต์ is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year’s Day from 13 to 15 April. During Songkran, Thai people visit and pay respects to elders, including family, friends, neighbours, and monks. The three day festival is also known as the ‘water festival’ as people splash (or drown) each other in water! It’s really a symbolic cleansing ritual to welcome the new year.
The Water Splashing ceremony also contains a religious element. Water is regarded as a symbol of religious purity and also of goodwill. Therefore, splashing people during the festival is about wishing good luck and prosperity to that person.
Songkran happens over three days. The first day involves cleaning the home. The second day is spent preparing Thai food, which will then be offered to Thai monks. The third day is ‘New Year’s Day’ – on this day Thai people visit their temples and present the monks with food and clothes. They bathe the statue of Buddha with scented water which they believe will bring them good luck for the coming year.
Preparing special food is central to this celebration. At Saba, Tao and his team have created some festive dishes for the menu. Below, you’ll see Fresh seafood salad, Farang cocktail and Som Tam – the sumptuous ingredients are listed on our New Year Menu. They include monkfish, Himalayan pink salt and fresh mango!
At Saba, we’re celebrating the Thai New Year from 11th to 17th of April. We welcome you to our week long celebration! Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to find out about dishes, cocktails, voucher giveaways and prizes.
