Water-Splashing Festival
Name: Water-Splashing Festival for the Dai people
Date: between the sixth day of the sixth Dai month and the seventh day of the seventh Dai month (around mid-April)
The majority of the Dai people live in the Xishuangbanna (Sipsongpanna) Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southernmost Yunnan Province. According to the fifth national census in 2000, the Dai population totaled 1.16 million.
The religion of the Dai is Hi
nayana (Theravada) Buddhism. The Dai also take part in animistic worship by offering sacrifices to spirits and ancestors.
At age seven or eight, many Dai boys become a "keyong'" (a novice) and are sent to the village monastery to learn the Buddhist an d doctrines before they join the community as a "parian" (child monk). Most Dai return to the secular life around age 17 or 18 and then marry.
There are at least five dialects of Dai in Yunnan. The more popular scripts later formed the basis of th
e current Xishuangbanna and Dehong Dai writing. After 1949 the Chinese developed a new simplified Dai script for use among the Dais.
The Water-splashing Festival, the New Year by the Dai calendar, held in the last ten days of the sixth month or early in the seventh month of the Dai calendar (April), usually lasts three to five days.
About the origin of the festival, legend has it that once upon a time, there was a "demon of fire" who brought all the pains and sufferings to the local people. He even forced seven women, one after another, to marry him. However, the s
even women he married turned out to have the guts to kill him. One day, the most daring and the youngest woman of the seven strapped the devil's neck with his own long hair. The head of the devil fell to the ground and started rolling around. And whatever the burning head rolled over were set ablaze.
In order to put down the fire, the seven women hold the devil's blazing head in their arms, and they decided to hold the post in turn, each for one year. At the time of New Year when they switch shifts, local people would gather to splash water on the exhausted woman in a hope to wash the blood and dirt off her and refresh her. Today, the Dai people splash water at each other to commemorate the courageous act of these women who brought peace and happines
s to them.
The first day of the festival is the New Yea r's Eve. On this day, the Dai people hold the "ascending high" competition and dragon boat races. The things that are "ascending high" are a self-made "rockets" - bamboos with gunpowder in them ¨C which were "fired" into the sky and left a curve of smoke behind.
The second day is a day for break. It is a day belongs neither to the old year nor to the new year. It is simply a day for break and people usually stay home or go hunting in the mountains.
The third day is "the king of days." In the morning, people put on their best clothes and go to temples to pray for the good luck, big fortune and even more children in the New Year. In the afternoon, women will clean the statues of Buddha with water. Shortly after that, water splashing at people really begins.
Talking about water splashing, there is a "civilized way" and a "violent way." Being civilized, the Dai people dip flower branches in water and sprinkle the water on one another for blessing. But being violent, people use washbasins and buckets to splash water on others. And the more water one is splashed on, the happier and luckier one will be in the new year.
The festival culminate later in the day as the Dai people start singing, dancing and drinking late into the night.
Besides the traditional games such as "ascending high" and dragon boat races, new activities have been going on during the festival, such as cockfight, setting free balloons, going to amusement park and exchanging commodities, etc. |
