The festivals of the Dai ethnic group are mainly about the Door Festival, the Open Door Festival and the Water Festival, and the customs are as follows:
Door Festival, Open Door Festival: The Door Festival is September 15 of the Dai Calendar, which is in the middle of July of the Gregorian calendar, and the Open Door Festival is December 15 of the Dai Calendar, which is in the middle of October of the Gregorian calendar. Men, women and children of all villages and cottages go to the Buddhist temple to hold a grand fine Buddha activities, offer food, flowers and money to the Buddha statue of Buddha, chanting and dripping in front of the statue of Buddha, in order to ask Buddha to bestow blessings on people.
The three-month period from the Closing to the Opening of the Door Festival is the "Closing" period, when religious activities are the most frequent of the year. It is the most frequent time of the year for religious activities, including Buddhist ceremonies, listening to the Buddha's sermons, and a small fine for seven days. In the evening, fireworks, firecrackers, high rise (Kongming lanterns), held "catch swing". Closed during the period, young men and women can talk about love, but can not get married, can not go out; to "open the door" before you can get married and go out.
Splash Water Festival: time in the Dai calendar in late June or early July, that is, mid-April of the Gregorian calendar. The festival usually lasts for 3 days. The first two days are for sending off the old and the last day is for welcoming the new. Early in the morning of the festival, the men, women and children of the Dai villages bathe and dress up to go to the Buddhist temple to fine Buddha, and pile up sand in the temple to build 4 or 5 pagodas, and sit around the pagodas to listen to the Buddha reciting sutras. After that, the women each pick a load of water for the statue of Buddha "dust washing". After the Buddhist temple ceremony, young men and women exited, pouring water on each other to bless. Then they parade around in groups, splashing pedestrians to show their blessings.
Expanded:
The Dai (Roman: Dai), also known as the Thai (Thai:, Roman: Thai), Shan (Roman: Shan), etc., the national language of the Dai (Tai), belonging to the Zhuang-Dong branch of the Zhuang-Tibetan family of languages.
The Dai people regard peacocks and elephants as mascots, and their folk tales are colorful and colorful. The Dai people like to live by the water, love cleanliness, often bathe, and women love to shampoo their hair, so they are known as "the people of the water", and they used to believe in the Southern Theravada Buddhism and primitive religion.
The Dai are the main ethnic group in Thailand and Laos, accounting for 40% of Thailand's total population, and they are also the second largest ethnic group in Myanmar, and an ethnic minority in China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries. According to the sixth population census in 2010, there are more than 1.26 million Dai people in China***.
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