The Songkran Festival lasts for three days: the first day is "Wheat Day", which is similar to Chinese New Year's Eve. Dai language is called "ten thousand is still rare", which means to send the old. At this time, people should tidy up their houses, clean up, prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner, row dragon boats in festivals, fly high, perform arts and other activities. The next day is called "angry day", which means "empty" According to custom, this day belongs to neither the previous year nor the next year, so it is called "empty day". On this day, water splashing activities are usually held to commemorate the goddess of murder, and to take refuge with holy water to wish each other peace and happiness. The third day is called "Maipaya Wanma". It is said that the soul of Mapaya Wanma returned to Earth with a new calendar. People used to regard this day as the arrival of the King of Heaven, that is, New Year's Day in the Dai calendar.
Song and dance activities
Old people from 70 to 80 years old to 78-year-old dolls put on festive costumes and gathered in the village square. Men, women and children formed a circle and danced with gongs and drums. Some jump "peacock dance"; Some jump "jade wax"; Some improvise, sing and dance, and some men drink while dancing. During the Songkran Festival, Dai people like to queue up, beat gongs and drums, collectively jump on the "Yila River" and pay New Year greetings from door to door, wishing a happy New Year and all the best. (Note: For more information about songs and dance tunes, please refer to Resources:
)
Bathing Buddha
On "Mairi" (the first day of junior high school), early in the morning, people will take flowers and green leaves to the Buddhist temple to offer sacrifices, and bring clean water to "bathe the Buddha"-welcome the dust for the Buddha statue. It is also a prayer for the gods to bless people's health in the new year. After the "Bathing Buddha" ended, they began to collectively splash water on each other. Groups of young men and women used various containers to hold water, pouring out of the streets, chasing and playing, splashing everyone out of the water.
Packet loss
Songkran Festival is also a wonderful time for unmarried young men and women to find love and cultivate happiness. During the Songkran Festival, unmarried young men and women of the Dai people like to play the game of "losing packets". The flower bag carefully made by the girl is a token of love. Treasure is a symbol of love. Made by Dai girls with cotton seeds, the four corners of the bag are decorated with colorful flowers. When the bag was lost, men and women stood in a row on the grassy lawn. First, the Dai girl threw the bag to the boy, and then the boy threw it to the girl to convey their feelings. On the day of packet loss, the girls tried their best to dress up, then came to the "package field" with flower umbrellas and small flower bags, separated from the boys by thirty or forty steps, and began to throw flower bags at each other. If the young man can't get the bag thrown by the girl, he has to put the flowers prepared in advance in the girl's hair. If the girl can't get the bag thrown by the boy, he has to put the flowers in the boy's chest, so he gradually chooses the other person, and a series of romantic love stories begin.
Dragon Boat Racing
Dragon boat race is one of the wonderful activities of the Songkran Festival, which is usually held in Maipayawanma (the third day) of the Songkran Festival. On that day, people dressed in festive costumes gathered on the banks of Lancang River and Ruili River to watch the dragon boat race. There is a green dragon boat moored on the river, and dozens of lean sailors sit on it. At the command, the dragon boat ready to go flies forward like an arrow. Suddenly, the drums, gongs, trumpets and cheers of the whole river came and went, and the sounds corresponded. The festive atmosphere here has reached a climax.
soar
Goldman Sachs is a kind of fireworks made by Dai people. The bottom of the bamboo pole is filled with gunpowder and other ingredients, placed on a high shelf made of bamboo, connected by wires, and often set off at night. When lifting, igniting the fuse will make the gunpowder burn, which will produce a strong thrust and push the bamboo into the sky like a rocket. Those who are promoted to the highest position will be appreciated and rewarded.
Flying Kongming lanterns
Unique activities in the Dai area: At night, people light lanterns and candles in the open space of the square, put them into homemade balloons, and use the buoyancy of the air to fly lanterns into the sky. Bright lanterns fly higher and higher and farther in the dark. People use this to commemorate the ancient sage Kong Ming.
Boundary intersection point
Small businessmen in Thailand buy and sell local specialties and snacks, which is of great significance to increase the friendship between the two countries. Border fairs generally last for three days, three days before the Songkran Festival, and then folk surveys are added. Wen Wei Po: Traditionally, a wooden basin is filled with clear water, then the branches are dipped in water and gently poured on others. Dai people go to the well to get clean water. They will put some flowers in advance, such as sweet-scented osmanthus, to make the water fragrant. Then they will go to the temple to worship Buddha, and then they will wash away the dust of Buddha with perfume. After that, everyone will dip each other's twigs (such as the branches of Murraya murraya) into the fragrant flower water in a small basin, and then gently sprinkle them on the respected or elderly people, and then help each other to sprinkle them on those who want to bless. To show the new year, and to give each other the most sincere wishes.
Wu Po: Fill the wooden basin with water and pour it out directly. The more water is splashed on the Water-Splashing Festival, which symbolizes who is the happiest in that year, and also expresses the meaning that the Dai people want each other to be safe and happy.