When is the Songkran Festival in Xishuangbanna?

English name: Songkran Festival

Nickname: Songkran Festival

Festival time: April1March-April 16.

Festival type: traditional festivals

Epidemic area: Yunnan

The Origin of Festivals: Institutional Environment

Festival activities: dragon boat rowing and bathing Buddha.

Songkran Festival is a traditional festival of Dai, Thai and Southeast Asia. On that day, people in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Kowloon City of Taiwan Province Province, Zhonghe District of New Taipei City and other overseas Thai settlements got up early in the morning to bathe in Buddhism. After that, they began to celebrate for a few days. During the period, everyone spilled pure water on each other and prayed to wash away the misfortune of the past year. Songkran Festival is the New Year of the Dai people, which is equivalent to the middle of April in the Gregorian calendar and generally lasts for 3 to 7 days.

Water-splashing Festival is a comprehensive stage to display the traditional culture of Dai people, such as water culture, music and dance culture, food culture, costume culture and folk worship. It is an important window to study the Dai history and has high academic value. The artistic performances such as palm-dancing and white elephant dance displayed in the Water-splashing Festival are helpful to understand the national characteristics of the Dai people, such as understanding nature, respecting Buddha in love the water, and being gentle and calm. At the same time, the Songkran Festival is also an important link to strengthen the great unity of the people of all ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna, which has played a positive role in the friendly cooperation and exchanges between Xishuangbanna and Southeast Asian countries and promoted the social, economic and cultural development of Xishuangbanna.

On May 20th, 2006, this folk custom was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.