What festival is closing day?

Dai people have three traditional festivals: the closing ceremony, the opening ceremony and the water splashing festival.

1, opening date and closing date

These are two closely related Dai traditional festivals.

The closing festival begins in mid-July and lasts for about three months, while the opening festival is held in mid-October.

During the village closing festival, no marriage or building is allowed, and no large-scale entertainment activities are held in the village. Three months later, when the closing day expires, the Dai people will hold the opening day celebration.

Opening the door is also called "getting out of the depression". On the day of the festival, what was put behind the Buddha during the closing ceremony was taken out and burned, indicating that the Buddha had "walked out of the depression"; On the second day of the festival, the whole family went to the temple to worship Buddha; On the third day, there will be a grand "flower picking" activity, which is a temple fair integrating sacrifice, assembly, art and commerce.

During the Opening Day, young men and women dressed in costumes went to the Buddhist temple to worship Buddha, offering food, flowers, wax strips and coins. After the service, a grand cultural rally was held to celebrate the end of fasting since the closing day. The main contents include setting off sparks, rising and lighting lanterns.

At this time, the rice harvest is finished, so the opening day is also a festival to celebrate the harvest. Young people can fall in love or get married at this time, and adults can go on business trips or visit relatives and friends.

2. Water-splashing Festival

Apart from the closing ceremony and the opening ceremony, the Songkran Festival is the most distinctive festival of the Dai people, which is held in the middle of April in the Gregorian calendar.

At the Water-Splashing Festival, people will worship Buddha. The girls will wash the dust for the Buddha with fresh water floating with flowers, then splash water on each other and bless each other. At first, water was splashed with hands and bowls, and later with pots and barrels. The more intense the splash, the drums, splashing water and cheers will become one. Traditional entertainment activities such as dragon boat racing and flying lanterns will also be held during this period.

If you come to Xishuangbanna during the festival, you can not only feel the cheerful festive atmosphere, but also see the characteristic bamboo houses where the Dai people live: approximately square bamboo houses supported by dozens of thick bamboos, suspended floors and thatched rows covering the roof. Here you can also eat delicious bamboo rice and enjoy the wonderful peacock dance of Dai girls.

But before going, it is necessary to understand the taboos of the Dai people: they are afraid of outsiders riding horses, driving cattle, carrying burdens, and entering the stockade unkempt; When entering the Dai bamboo house, you should take off your shoes outside the door and walk gently inside. You can't sit above or across the fireplace, you can't enter the owner's inner room, you can't sit on the threshold, etc.