merrymaking

Though the festival originated as a way to pray for a rainy season that helped crops and included activities such as cleansing images of the Buddha and washing the hands and feet of elders, Songkran these days is now often associated with public drunkenness, sexual assault in the guise of merrymaking, and a spike in traffic fatalities, noticeable to the point that the extended holiday has been dubbed the “seven dangerous days.”

At Kryivka, the pervasive patriotism and general merrymaking eclipses the often ugly record of the original Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which led the fight for an independent Ukraine in the 1940s, but comprised extremists who massacred Poles and Jews in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

In big cities, the merrymaking involving the playful splashing of water took place at designated high-security pavilions.

In big cities, the merrymaking involving the playful splashing of water took place at designated high-security pavilions.

Chances are you haven’t received an invitation to the coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on May 6, but you can nonetheless join the merrymaking in the streets by splurging on a London getaway.