Persatuan Kebudayaan Masyarakat Siam Negeri Kedah (PEKEMAS)

Sekarang tiba pula tahun baru mengikut kalender lunar Thai yang dikenali sebagai Hari Songkran atau Pesta Songkran. Pesta ini disambut meriah oleh masyarakat Siam seluruh Malaysia. Pesta Songkran atau Sambutan Tahun Baru secara lazimnya bermula pada Rem 1 kham dean 5  (mengikut kalender Thai) bersamaan 31 Mac 2010 sehingga sebulan masyarakat Siam akan menyambut pesta ini.

Bagi menyelaras tarikh pesta ini mengikut kalender antarabangsa maka 13 April setiap tahun telah ditetapkan sebagai Hari Songkran oleh kerajaan Thailand. Pesta Songkran merupakan salah satu kebudayaan masyarakat Siam menyambut ketibaan tahun baru.

Kedah Sultanate

Around 170 CE a group of native refugees of Hindu faith arrived at Kedah, joining them soon were peoples from nearby islands and from the northern Mon-Khmer region. Ancient Kedah covered the areas of Kuala Bahang, Kuala Bara, Kuala Pila and Merpah, and the inhabitants of Kedah appointed Tun Derma Dewa and Tun Perkasa as their village chiefs.

In the year 630 CE, Maharaja Derbar Raja of Gemeron (now known as Bandar Abbas) in Persia was defeated in battle and escaped to Sri Lanka, and he was later blown off course by a storm to the remote shores of Kuala Sungai Qilah, Kedah. The inhabitants of Kedah found him to be a valiant and intelligent person, and they made him the king of Kedah. In the year 634 CE, a new kingdom was formed in Kedah consisting of Persian royalty and native Malay of Hindu faith, the capital was Langkasuka.
In the early days, Kedah was known by the Indians as Kedaram, Kidaram, Kalagam and Kataha, and Kalah or Kalaha by the Persians.In the 7th and 8th centuries, Kedah was under the domination of Srivijaya, and was later under SIAM, until the rise of the Malay sultanate of Melaka in the 15th century. In the 17th century, Kedah was attacked by the Portuguese after their conquest of Melaka, and by Aceh. In the hope that Great Britain would protect what remained of Kedah from Siam, the sultan handed over Penang and then Province Wellesley to the British at the end of the 18th century. The SIAMESE nevertheless conquered Kedah in 1811, and it remained under Siamese control until transferred to the British by the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909.