Which Ethnic Minority is the Water Splashing Festival

The Water Splashing Festival is a traditional festival of the Dai, Achang, Brown, Wa, De'ang and other ethnic minorities in China and certain ethnic groups in the Central and Southern Peninsula.

The Chinese Dai festival takes place in the sixth and seventh months of the Dai calendar (about ten days after the Qingming Festival). It is now fixed on April 13-15 of the Gregorian calendar. During the festival, people splash water on each other for blessings and hold activities such as worshipping Buddha, racing dragon boats, releasing gaosheng, and lighting Kongming lanterns. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, new elements such as parades, cultural performances, movie nights, exhibitions and material exchanges have been added. Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and other countries celebrate the festival in mid-April on the Gregorian calendar.

Customs of the Water Splashing Festival

Wen Splashing: The more traditional way of splashing water is to use a wooden basin full of water and then dabbing a branch with the water to gently splash it on others. The Dai people go to the well to get clean water, beforehand will be put some flowers such as Myanmar osmanthus, so that the water has a fragrance, and then go to the temple to "fine Buddha", and then with these aromatic water to the Buddha to clean the body of the dust, and then we use each other with twigs (such as incense sticks) dipped in small pots of fragrant flower water, first of all, to the moral or the elderly body lightly sprinkled, and then the water will be poured on others. Then they help each other to sprinkle the water on the person they want to bless. It is a way to give each other the most sincere and good wishes for the new year.

Wu Splash: A wooden basin is filled with water and a basin is thrown straight out all over. In the Water Splashing Festival, whoever is splashed with more water symbolizes who is the happiest in that year, which also expresses the meaning of the Dai people's hope for each other's peace and happiness.