Meaning
Water Festival is one of the traditional cultural festivals of Southeast Asian countries. Lao people call it Bunpimay, Thai people call it Songkran, Cambodian people call it Chol Chnam Thmey and Myanmar people call it Thingyan.
The festival is meant to bring coolness and prosperity to all things, purifying human life. On these days, people often splash water on each other to wish each other good luck, pray for favorable weather, and pray for a new year of prosperity and happiness. Festivals in Laos are often shortened to Bun, which means doing good deeds, doing good deeds to receive good deeds.
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| Preparing to decorate the temples. Photo: Laosfestival. |
Festival time
Bunpimay Festival usually takes place over three days, April 13, 14 and 15 every year according to the Buddhist calendar.
Festival customs
On the first and last day of the old year, people clean their houses and prepare scented water and flowers. In the afternoon, villagers gather at the temple to worship Buddha, pray, listen to monks preach, and pray for health and happiness for the whole year. After that, they carry the Buddha statue to a separate room for three days and open the door so that everyone can come in to bathe the Buddha. The scented water after being sprinkled on the Buddha statues will be collected and brought home to be used on people to do good deeds.
The second day is not counted because it is the transition between the old year and the new year.
The third and final day is filled with many exciting activities everywhere. Before splashing water, people often wish each other well. To show respect, young people splash water on the elderly to wish them a long life and prosperity. Friends splash water on each other. They not only splash water on people but also on houses, worship objects, animals and production tools. Lao people believe that water will help wash away evil and diseases and wish for a long, clean and healthy new year. Whoever gets wet the most will be happier.
People build sand towers, decorate them with flags, flowers, cloth strings, and sprinkle scented water. During these days, people also release animals such as turtles, fish, crabs, birds, etc. to gain blessings.
On New Year’s Day, the host of the house ties a green or red string around the wrist of a guest who comes to visit first, symbolizing happiness and good health. During the three days of the New Year, whoever has the most strings tied around their wrist is considered to have good luck all year.
People use Cassia flowers (yellow scorpion) tied to cars and hung in houses for luck, Champa flowers in bunches or put in hair to pray for blessings in the year.
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| The best time to have fun is from 10am to 4pm. After 4pm, the festival stops. Photo: Laosfestival. |
Location
The water festival is held all over the country but is most enjoyable in the ancient capitals of Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. In Luang Prabang, which has many temples and is a famous tourist area, foreign visitors can enjoy a clear festival atmosphere with many interesting games.
Consulting on attending the Water Festival
If you are planning to attend the Water Festival in Luang Prabang, book your tickets now. From Hanoi, you can fly directly with Vietnam Airlines in about 2 hours. Another option is the sleeper bus, there are 2 trips every day from Nuoc Ngam bus station.
Luang Prabang has many hotels and guesthouses for guests with prices starting from 300,000 VND. During the festival season, you should book in advance to ensure a room. This is the oldest city in Laos with many attractions such as sacred temples, the old town, Pak Ou cave, Phoushi mountain and the night market. Places selling traditional items or famous silver products of the Lao people.
During Tet, Lao people love to eat laap with hot sticky rice. There are also many delicious dishes you should try such as dried buffalo meat, grilled chicken, grilled fish...
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| Join in the merriest festival of the year with big buckets of water and wish for a lucky new year with your friendly Lao friends. Photo: Simon. |
Note
If you are in Laos during the New Year, be prepared to receive water wishes. Lao people are very friendly, they will not do anything to you. If you are driving or walking on the street, they will just throw water on you. Don’t get angry, they do this to wish you good health throughout your life and think that they are also healthy like you.
