Legend of Dai water-splashing festival

April Songkran Festival (Dai calendar in June) is a traditional festival of Dai people in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Legend has it that a long time ago, a fire demon came to the hometown of the Dai people and turned it into a hot, dry and unproductive place.

One day, the fire demon snatched seven beautiful young Dai girls. The youngest girl is Shannon, who cheated the fire devil. One day in June in the Dai calendar, the design pulled the fire demon's head off. Strangely, the fire went out as soon as the fire demon's head left the ground; As soon as I touched the ground, the fire started again So Seven Sisters took turns carrying the devil on his back to prevent it from falling to the ground. When the devil is hot, he keeps splashing water to cool down. It was not until seven years later that the fire demon died. Since then, in order to commemorate their contributions, the Dai people have held a water-splashing festival every June to celebrate the victory of exorcism. During the festival, young people set off firecrackers, race dragon boats, sing and dance for three or four days.

There is a touching story among the Dai people about the origin of the Water-splashing Festival. According to legend, in ancient times, there was a god named Pengmadian Dalaza who was in charge of farming season. Dalaza, who holds pockmarked spots, with its clever magic, magical power and chaotic divine power, does whatever he wants, cools down when he wants to rain, making the world cold and warm, confusing rain and drought.

Ying Da Tira, the Emperor of Heaven, decided to punish Dalachai, who brought disaster to the world, but because of his clever magic, the gods and immortals were afraid to touch him. So Ying Da Lati became a handsome young man and went to "string up" Madian Dalachai's seven daughters. He told them how their father did evil.

Seven kind and beautiful girls were very dissatisfied with what their father had done. Today, after listening to the words of the "young man", I was even more indignant. They are determined to put righteousness above family interests and eliminate pests for the world. The girls privately discussed that in order to get rid of their heinous father, they must find out the secret of his life and death. Darachai, who was holding hemp, unconsciously revealed his secret of life and death in his laughter: he was afraid of fire, flood, knife cutting, arrow shooting, and making a bow with his hair (meaning "heartstring bow").

One day, the girls drank their father as drunk as a fiddler. While he was sleeping, they quietly pulled out one of his hairs and made it a "bow plug massacre". When they aimed the "bow stopper" at Dalachai with hemp, his neck was broken. As soon as his head landed, it caught fire and the fire spread everywhere. In order to put out the evil fire, seven girls took turns holding Dalachai's pockmarked head until it rotted. In the process of rotation, the girls should call clean water and splash it on themselves to wash away stains and odors.

In order to commemorate these seven girls, Dai people will hold water splashing activities during the Chinese New Year to eliminate disasters and solve problems, and wish the new year a good weather, abundant crops and prosperous people and animals. The "wrist brain" in the Dai calendar New Year is the day when Dalaza's head rots, and water splashing activities are held on this day.