The Water Splashing Festival
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The Water Splashing Festival

The annual Water-Splashing Festival is most important holiday of the Dai people. Held during the sixth month of the Dai calendar, usually falling in the middle of April, it is also known as the Festival for Bathing the Buddha.

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Water is regarded as a symbol of holiness, goodness and brightness by the Dai  people. The water splashing onto each other symbolizes good wishes.

The Water Splashing Festival falls during the New Year of the Dai Calendar. It is the most important festival observed by the Dai ethnic group in Xishuangbanna in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province. The festival is similar to Thailand’s Songkran, three days of festive activities in which everybody gets doused with water.

The Water Splashing Festival
The festival usually lasts for three days. In the first two days, Dai people hold dragon boat race to ring out the old year and usher in the new year. The third day is for water splashing and is the climax of the festival. On that day, Dai people put on their new ethnic clothes and assemble at a local Buddhist temple, where they listen to the chanting of Buddhist scripture.

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Afterward, a Buddhist statue is coaxed out to the temple yard with pomp and ceremony, where it is splashed. The ritual is called bathing the Buddha. People then go to the streets, joyfully joining in a battle of water splashing onto each other.

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About Xishuangbanna
Xishuangbanna takes on the look and atmosphere of a typical South Asian region, characterized by a diverse folklore, lush tropical rain forests, and many species of rare plants and wildlife. Xishuangbanna is also home to the Dai minority people, whose interesting and colorful traditions are well represented through their lifestyle and native modes of dressing.

Is is an ancient and mysterious, beautiful and colorful land displays its charisma to you like a green peacock displaying its fine tail feathers. You will be intoxicated by its sight and nationality customs when you visit.

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Yunnan Province, due to its beautiful landscapes, mild climate and colorful ethnic minorities, is one of China’s major tourist destinations.

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