The three-day Lao New Year is a purification festival, during which the Buddhist images in the household and the temples are ritually cleaned with sacred water. On the streets, locals engage in the usual Pimai antics—Soo Kwan (tying cotton strings around people’s wrists), water splashing, and sand stupa building. You’ll also find processions of people …
Also referred to as Sus’Dei Chnam Thmei in the Khmer language – “enter new year” – the three-day Khmer New Year has a solemn first day, a generous second, and a festive third. The first day sees the preparation of sacrifices to heaven, offering food to monks at the monastery, and building sand stupas. The …
The Thai New Year lasts for days, with the whole country subsumed in water showers and celebrations. Don’t get mad: getting wet is a portent of good luck! For a more authentic Songkran experience, visit the Mekong-side city of Nakhon Phanom: make merit on the monks’ alms walk at dawn, visit the booths selling products …
In the Dai culture, water serves as a symbol of holiness and light. That’s why water is so central to the Dai New Year, which is celebrated in Jinghong, Yunnan at the large Water- splashing Square, where people go completely water-wild with buckets and water guns. Be warned – foreign visitors tend to get special …
The Thingyan Festival is held from April 13 to 17 all across Myanmar. Locals douse each other with water to ward off evil and wash away the previous year’s bad luck. The splashing tradition (similar to that in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Thailand) feels like a relief in the hot, dry season of mid-April. This …
The Angkor Sankranta celebration is held annually in Siem Reap during Khmer New Year.
According to the tradition of ethnic Khmer people living in the south of Vietnam, especially in villages such as Soc Trang, Chau Doc, Long Xuyen, mid-April is the time of change between the dry season and the rainy season. This is the time when the sky and the earth are in harmony, when all the …
Chol Chnam Thmay – New Year’s Day of ethnic Khmer, Viet Nam Read More
Celebrated in late April at Myeik Archipelago, this festival marks the time when the Sea Gypsies (Salon people) leave the sea to avoid the monsoon season by seeking shelter on the islands of the archipelago. They build temporary homes around the islands. As the Sea Gypsies who are fishermen and divers spend most of their …
