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Meaning
The Water Festival is one of the traditional cultural festivals of Southeast Asian countries. The Laotians call it Bunpimay, the Thais call it Songkran, the Cambodians call it Chol Chnam Thmey, and the Myanmars call it Thingyan.
The festival is meant to bring coolness and prosperity to all things, purifying human life. During these days, people often splash water on each other to bless each other, praying for favorable weather, and wishing for a prosperous and happy new year. The festival in Laos is often abbreviated as Bun, which means doing good deeds to receive blessings.
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| Preparing to decorate the temples. Photo: Laosfestival. |
Festival period
The Bunpimay festival usually takes place over three days, April 13th, 14th, and 15th each year according to the Buddhist calendar.
Festival customs
The first and last day of the old year is a time when people clean their houses and yards, preparing fragrant water and flowers. In the afternoon, villagers gather at the temple to offer prayers, listen to monks preach, and pray for health and happiness throughout the year. Afterwards, they carry the Buddha statue to a separate room for three days, opening the doors so that everyone can enter and bathe the Buddha. The fragrant water used to bathe the statues is collected and taken home to be applied to the body as a blessing.
Monday is not included because it marks the transition between the old year and the new year.
The third and final day is filled with lively activities everywhere. Before the water splashing, people usually exchange good wishes. To show respect, young people splash water on older people to wish them long life and prosperity. Friends splash water on each other. They not only splash water on people but also on houses, religious objects, animals, and tools. Laotians believe that water helps wash away evil and disease and wishes for a long, clean, and healthy new year. The wetter you get, the happier you will be.
People build sand towers, decorate them with flags, flowers, fabric ribbons, and sprinkle them with fragrant water. During these days, people also release animals such as turtles, fish, crabs, and birds to gain merit.
On Tet (Vietnamese New Year), when guests visit a house, the host ties a green or red thread around their wrist, symbolizing happiness and health. Throughout the three days of Tet, whoever has the most threads tied around their wrist is considered to have good luck all year.
People tie cassia flowers (golden scorpion flower) to their cars and hang them in their houses to pray for good luck, and tie frangipani flowers into bunches or wear them in their hair to wish for blessings in the year.
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| The most enjoyable time is from 10 am to 4 pm. After 4 pm, the festival ends. Photo: Laosfestival. |
Location
Water festivals are held throughout the country, but the most enjoyable are in the former capital Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. In Luang Prabang, a popular tourist destination with many temples, foreign visitors can enjoy a distinctly festive atmosphere with numerous fun games.
Advice for participating in the Tet Water Splashing Festival.
If you plan to attend the Water Festival in Luang Prabang, start booking your tickets now. From Hanoi, you can take a direct flight with Vietnam Airlines, which takes about 2 hours. Another option is a sleeper bus; there are two daily departures from Nuoc Ngam bus station.
In Luang Prabang, there are many hotels and guesthouses for tourists with prices starting from 300,000 VND. During festivals, you should book in advance to ensure you have a room. This is one of the oldest cities in Laos with many attractions such as sacred temples, the old town, the Pak Ou caves, Mount Phoushi, and the night market. These places sell traditional goods and famous Lao silver products.
During the New Year, Laotians love to eat laap (a type of Vietnamese sausage) with hot sticky rice. There are also many other delicious dishes you should try, such as dried buffalo meat, grilled chicken, grilled fish, etc.
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| Immerse yourself in the most joyful festival of the year with big buckets of water, and wish for a lucky new year with your friendly Laotian friends. Photo: Simon. |
Note
If you're in Laos during the New Year, be prepared to receive blessings in the form of water. Lao people are very friendly; they won't hurt you. If you're driving or walking on the street, they'll just splash water on you. Don't get angry; they do this simply to wish you good health throughout your life, and they believe they wish themselves good health as well.
