What’s your destination for the spring outing? If you are stuck for a place Xishuangbanna and Dehong, which are home to the Dai ethnic group in the southwest frontier of China in Yunnan Province, might well be a good choice, as the annual Water Splashing Festival, a jolly jamboree to greet spring with water, will be observed there in the middle of April.
No other ethnic groups in China are more passionate about water than the Dai people in Yunnan Province. In the eyes of the Dai People, water is not only a symbol of sanctity, beauty and brightness but it can also help everything grow, and is rightly considered the god of life.
Similar to Thailand’s Songkran, the Dai people’s festival sees them splash water on each other to celebrate the New Year based on the Dai calendar, which usually falls in the middle of April.
On that day, all Dai people, young and old, dress in their best, shoulder clean water to Buddhist temples and greet the occasion of Bathing the Buddha which is considered a holy ceremony. But before doing so - people have to add some beautiful and fragrant flowers into the water before gently pouring it to wash away dust on the statue of Buddha.
When the ceremony of bathing the Buddha concludes, people begin splashing water over each other for fun as well as blessings to rinse away sickness and misfortune. Very soon people are thrown into an unbridled spree of water splashing, and everybody gets doused with water. The more water one person sprinkles, the more luck he/she receives, and the happier he/she will be.
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