Dai Water-splashing Festival information ````` Award 30

The Dai nationality in China is a minority with a long cultural tradition and a population of nearly one million. They mainly live in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southern Yunnan, Dehong Autonomous Prefecture in western Yunnan, Gengma, Menglian and other autonomous counties, and others are scattered all over Yunnan. Dai nationality has a long history, and Dai language belongs to Zhuang and Dai language branch of Sino-Tibetan language family. The whole people believe in Buddhism, but primitive religious activities are also very common, such as worship of gods, ghosts, agriculture, hunting, spiritual objects and so on.

Water-splashing Festival is actually the Dai New Year, and it is one of the most solemn traditional festivals in Xishuangbanna. Generally, it is held in the middle of June in Dai calendar (about ten days before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day in the lunar calendar) for three to four days. Generally, it is from April of Gregorian calendar 13 to June of 15.

I. Origin

The Dai Water-splashing Festival is also called "Bathing Buddha Festival", the Dai language is called "Bimai" (meaning New Year), and the Dehong area in Xishuangbanna is called "Shanghan" and "Shangjian". Both names are derived from Sanskrit, meaning turnover, change and transfer, which means that the sun runs around the zodiac and begins to transition to the New Year. Achang, De 'ang, Bulang, Wa and other ethnic groups celebrate this festival. Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and other countries also celebrated the Songkran Festival.

The Songkran Festival originated in India and was a ceremony of ancient Brahmanism, which was later absorbed by Buddhism. 12 century to 13 century, it was introduced into the Dai area of China with Buddhism. With the deepening influence of Buddhism in Dai areas, the Water-splashing Festival has been circulated as a national custom for hundreds of years. During the spread of the Water-splashing Festival, the Dai people gradually combined it with their own myths and legends, giving the Water-splashing Festival more magical significance and national color.

Second, the legend

There is a vivid legend about the origin of the Songkran Festival: a long time ago, a cruel devil appeared in a place where the Dai people lived in compact communities. He did many evils, burning and robbing women everywhere, raping women, causing crop failure, making the people uneasy and miserable. People endured his cruelty and hated his guts, but no one could kill him.

The devil had six wives, but he was still not satisfied and took a beautiful and clever girl. Seven girls saw their compatriots living a miserable life and decided to find a way to destroy the devil. Smart people hate the devil in their hearts, but they are expressionless on the surface, pretending to be good with the devil. One night, the devil snatched back many treasures and slaves from the outside. When the demon king was unhappy, she explored the secret of strangling the demon king with her hair. So, in the dead of night, while the devil was asleep, the girl quietly pulled out a hair of the devil and strangled him. In an instant, the devil's head rolled to the ground, but as soon as his head landed, a fire broke out on the ground. On the verge of disaster, the girls immediately picked up their heads and the fire went out. However, where the devil's head rolls, there will be disaster, which will be thrown into the river and the river will overflow; Buried in the ground, it stinks everywhere, and only the devil's wife can hold it safely.

In order to avoid disaster to the people, the girls took turns to hold the devil's head, one for one day. A day in the sky is equal to a year on earth. Every year, the girls take turns, which is the Dai New Year. With admiration for the girls, the Dai people poured clean water on the girls holding their heads to wash away their blood stains and the fatigue of adults as a blessing.

Later, in order to commemorate these seven witty and brave women, the Dai people splashed water on each other on this day every year, thus forming a grand festival of the Dai people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year-the Water Splashing Festival.