The Water Splashing Festival originated in India and used to be a religious ceremony of Brahminism. Later, it was absorbed by Buddhism and introduced to the Dai area in Yunnan through Myanmar. The Water Splashing Festival is the celebration of the Dai New Year, which is usually held between April 13 and April 15 on the solar calendar. At that time, people first go to the Buddhist temple to bathe in Buddha, and then splash water on each other to express their sincere blessings with the splashing water. The festival is full of laughter and festive atmosphere.
The Water Splashing Festival, generally 3 to 4 days. On the first day, it is called "Mai Day" in Dai language, which is similar to the New Year's Eve in the lunar calendar. On the second day, the Dai language is called "Worry Day (empty day)", people dressed in festive costumes, picking up water, first to the Buddhist temple to bathe Buddha. Then they start splashing water on each other.
Another notable activity of the Water Splashing Festival is dragon boat rowing, elephant foot drum dance and peacock dance. On the third day of the Dai New Year, which is called "Mai Paya Evening Ma" in Dai language, the atmosphere of the festival reaches its climax. People dressed in festive costumes gathered on the banks of the Lancang River and the Ruili River to watch the dragon boat race.
The Water Splashing Festival is rich in activities, and others include releasing gaosheng, cockfighting, and peacock dancing, etc., with people dressed in full costume, joyful and extremely enthusiastic scenes.
"Sangkan Bimai" is the Dai language, meaning the Dai New Year.
Because the Dai people, when celebrating the New Year's Day, hold a unique water-splashing activity, splashing water on each other for blessing, so other ethnic groups call this festival the Water-Splashing Festival.
There is a sad folktale about the origin of the Dai New Year (Water Splashing Festival). Legend has it that the weather on earth was originally controlled by a celestial god named Huanmazha. He divided the year into dry season, rainy season and cold season, and set the agricultural seasons for the earth, and let a god named Huanmadalachar control the implementation. Thinking that he had great powers, he ignored the rules of the sky and did whatever he wanted to do, disregarding the rules of the sky, and making the rain and drought in the earth out of balance, making the hot and cold seasons indistinguishable from each other, and causing the seedlings to wither and die, and the animals and people to suffer .......
A young man named Paya Wan, with four wooden boards as his wings, flew up to the heavenly court to find the heavenly Yingdati-vara, and told him about the disasters on earth.
Payavan was on his way to the highest level of the heavens to pay homage to the heavenly pagoda, Taksinas, when he crashed into a doorway of the heavens and one of the doors collapsed on him, crushing him to death at the entrance to the heavenly court.
After Paya's death, the king of the heavens, Indatila, set about punishing the magical Huma Dharaksha. He transformed himself into a handsome young man and pretended to go to the seven daughters of Huma Dhritarashtra to talk to them about their love.
Seven beautiful young women fell in love with him at the same time. The girls learned from the young man's mouth about their father's plague on earth, both regret and hate. The seven good girls in order to make the earth free from disaster, determined to righteousness. They try to find out the secret of their father's life and death. In the point of holding the horse Dalacha drunk, cut off a bunch of his hair, making a "bow Sai Zai" (heart-string bow), resolutely cut off the head of the wrongdoing of the point of holding the horse Dalacha in his arms, from time to time to rotate, each other with the water sprinkled with water to rinse out the filth, wash away the stench.
It is said that this is the people in the New Year, each other splashing blessing of the origin.
The Dai New Year Festival, most of the Dai calendar in the second half of June, a few years in early July, the traditional festival time, usually three days (sometimes four days). The first day is called "Mai" equivalent to the lunar New Year's Eve, each household to clean up, prepare the New Year's food supplies, eat New Year's dinner. The second day is called "brain", is an extra day, not counted in the old year, not counted in the New Year, known as the empty day, legend has it that this day is to hold the horse point Darla Chad head rot day.
This day is usually held to splash water activities, in honor of the people to eliminate harm to the heavenly maiden, to the holy water to eliminate disasters, wishing each other peace and happiness.
The third day is called "Mai Paya Evening Ma", which is said to be the day when the spirit of Paya Evening returns to the earth with a new calendar, and is customarily referred to as the coming of the King of Days.
According to the ancient custom, this day to "catch the pendulum", put high, rowing dragon boat to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. The Dai New Year (Water Splashing Festival) is the grandest festival of the Dai people in Xishuangbanna. Before the festival, every family should sew new clothes, buy new umbrellas and prepare festival costumes. Every village has to make gaosheng, ceremonial flowers, decorate dragon boats, carry out rowing training, and young people have to rehearse programs and perform songs and dances. When the festival comes, they will kill pigs and cows to make rice cakes and prepare a sumptuous New Year's dinner for their friends and relatives.
The Dai New Year is also known as the Water Festival, celebrated for three to seven days. The first day is called "net mold" (the meaning of death). People think this day is unlucky, so they don't wash their hair, don't get a haircut, and don't work. Everyone goes to catch the pendulum, dragon boat race, put the high rise. The next day is called "net brain" (the meaning of stink) this day is considered unclean, to bathe, shampoo, haircut, change clothes, wash the Buddha statue and pagoda, held in the evening to catch the pendulum, fireworks, release of lanterns, the year's diseases, disasters and dirty things are sent off, clean into the new year. These two days in the Dai calendar, is considered to be "empty days" not called in the old year, not counted into the New Year. The third day is New Year's Day, which is called "Ba Nang Ma" (meaning gods and spirits, and also the meaning of the first year). The Dai people regard this day as the most beautiful and auspicious day. It is the climax of the Water Splashing Festival. It is the culmination of the Water Splashing Festival, in which sand is piled up, Buddha is finely poured, water is splashed, high rises are put on the ground, bags are thrown, "Yilaga" dance is danced, and New Year's greetings are paid, and other activities are carried out. After liberation, in addition to the traditional activities I, but also added arts, sports, movies, material exchanges and other activities, very lively.