Which Thai city hosts the Songkran event known as Hae Nang Dan, featuring giant spirit masks?

Nakhon Si Thammarat hosts the Songkran event known as Hae Nang Dan, featuring giant spirit masks.

Hae Nang Dan is a distinctive local New Year procession in Nakhon Si Thammarat, a historic city in southern Thailand. Participants carry large traditional masks and parade through the city as part of an older regional ritual connected with welcoming or honoring supernatural beings.

The event is often presented alongside Songkran-period celebrations, but it has its own southern Thai cultural identity and ceremonial history. The masks are known locally as nang dan and can be much larger than ordinary theatrical masks.

Nakhon Si Thammarat is also a major center of southern Thai history, religion, and the shadow-puppet tradition called nang talung. Hae Nang Dan should not be confused with ordinary water fights or with central Thai Songkran customs.