Water.splashing Festival
The Water-splashing Festival is the most important traditional festival observed by the
fosfival is held between early the 6'~ month and early the 7rh month of the Dai calendar.
The festival originated in India~ Believers of the rites of Brahmanism were to bathe in
rivers on the g0t~ or the 21st of April to wasb them of evil~ Those aged people who
could not bathe personally in rivers were to be bathed by their children, relatives or
friends~ It greatly thfluenced the Dai-inhabBed regions of Yunnan and grew into the
present festival~ Many folk tales also claim their own origins of the festival. According to the most
popular one, a demon forcibly occupied and inflicted untold misery upon the local
regions of y~nnan. His puff of strong wind would bring an evll raging fire, his spitting rive Man brave Da men gave their lives in would disturb the qthteness of a turb IntrY girls as his wives.
a vain attempt to kill him. The demon forcibly took 12 beautiful Dai These girls secretly planned to kill him. One day, after he was drunk, he told one wife his head would be cut off if one ties a hair from the demon around his neck~ After be
was fast asleep, the wife plucked out one of his hair and tied it around his neck~ The
head of the demon dropped to the ground and rolled about, se ing fire to whatever it
touched~ They grasped the flaming head and splashed water over it in turns until the head
was lifeless. Local Dai people began to hold the Water Splashing Festival every year to
celebrate the v ctory. They splash water over the.ir friends and relatives around them to
express their wish for umes of pe c nd pr p rlty
Girls have sweet-smelling Bowers soaked [n fragrant water to be splashed during the
few days before the festival~ Children make bamboo water throwers. People decorate their doors with colored paper-cuttmg, the morning and take baths on the first day of the festival
People get up early in wild tPowers to decorate their
young people dressed neatly and go to the mountains for
rooms. Buddhist believers go to temples to listen to sutra recitation and lectures on
historic tales. People go to watch the exciting dragon boat race.
The second day of the festival is the time for water splashing. All people come to
broad streets that are lined on both sides with containers of clear water. When the
entertainment begins, people splash the water over their relatives and friends, while
wishing them luck and freedom from diseases or adversities. The gentle splashing is done
to venerable elders by pulling away an elder's collar and gently tips into file opening
water to flow down the elder's back. The target should accept the splashing and
I reciprocate the good wishes by blessing. The violent splashing is done to young people.
~ or a gourd ladle over each other. The more water one
people splash water from a basin
bears, the happier he feels. Some young men splash water over girls in bamboo dwellinghouses to express their symbol of love.
The Water-splashthg Festival is also marked by singing and dancing. All festival
celebrators stand in circles singing and dancing, Among the various dances, Peacock
dance, Yilahou Dance and the Banlboo Hat Dance are the most popular, Young people toss bags on the third day, People set off fire works and Kongming
lanterns too. Before the game of tossing bags begins, young unmarried girls stand in a
line face-to-face with boys in another line. Players toss their bags to the opposite players
blindly first. After some time, they toss bags merely between two who take a fancy 1o eac~
other. A girl may snatch away the head cover of the sword of the young man she loves and
run home. When be comes to her home to fetch the thing he lost, the girl prepares nice
food and wine for him. During the dinner, they reveal their feelings to each other.
Some hollow logs, which are over two meters long filled with gun powder, are fixed on
a stand. When they are lit at night, it is quite a magnificent spectacle to see sparks ejected
dozens of meters up into the sky. Young people dance to the accompaniment of the
traditional musical instruments such as Dai Gong, Lusheng and the elephant-leg-like d~m
Dai people also set off a kind of fireworks called Gaosheng..It includes a long erect
bamboo pole with a number of short gun power filled bamboo pipes fixed on its top, When
the pipes are lit, they soar up into the sky and produce brilliant fireworks. People" fill lhe
biggest pipes of Gaosheng with five objects, Those who call get any of them after they
explode a~ seen as fortune's favorites.
A Kongming lantern was invented during the Three Kingdoms.(220--280) for sending
messages for the military army. It is made of thin banlboO strips and lough paper. It can
be seven meters tall and two meters in diameter. When they are lit in the evening, hot ak
sends the lanterns up into the sky and they slowly drift in the wind, It is a symbol of
auspiciousness and brightness in the world.