Thai New Year, 13-15 April 2012 is referred to as the Songkran festival, meaning astrological passage. In Thailand, the Songkran festival is a national holiday

Families and friends meet to celebrate by visiting temples, dripping water on Buddha images in reverence, and sprinkling water on each other's hands as a sign of good luck.

Historically, the date was calculated via astrological cycles, however over time the date was fixed to its current position. The holiday is both joyous and solemn. On one hand children seek each other out with water fights in the streets. On the other hand, the Thai community visits the Buddhist monasteries to pray and also give food to the monks.

At New Year, Thai people clean their house vigorously, washing the Buddha with water and fragrance. This creates good luck and prosperity for the household. This is from where the more modern water games originated.

Sydney’s Muum Maam restaurant celebrated Thai New Year in true style, with a feast fit for a king. Between 13-20 April the restaurant offered a 6 course set menu consisting of the following:

*Golden bags with sweet corn, pork, shredded coconut, carrot, soya bean
*Larb duck salad with mint, ground roasted rice, chilli, coriander, red onion
*Fried soft shell crab and betel leaf red curry with coconut and tumeric rice
*‘Sen me’ noodles with chicken, tofu, egg, shitake mushroom and coconut cream dressing
*Crispy barramundi fillet with tamarind, cashew, basil and shallots
*Traditional sticky rice with black bean wrapped in banana leaf

Muum Maam, Thai for “little glutton”, has established itself as one of the most authentic Thai restaurants Sydney and indeed Australia, in just over a year of trading. The restaurant is located at:

Muum Maam and Tukshop
Shop 1/50 Holt St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia
Tukshop – open for lunch Mon-Fri (11.30am-3pm)
Muum Maam – open for dinner Mon – Sat (6pm – 10.30pm)
Ph: +61 2 9318 0881
Email: reservations[a]muummaam.com.au