Splashing water on others symbolises the cleansing of all bad things, including diseases and the welcome of a thriving and healthy New Year. The wetter a person becomes, the more luck and happiness they will receive.
Hanoi (VNA) -♉ The Water Splashing Festival (Bun Huot Nam) is a cherished cultural tradition among the Lao community in Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province. As part of the event, participants splash water on one another as a gesture of good fortune during the festival.
People celebrate water festival joyfully. (Photo: Hoai Nam/Vietnam+)
Many traditional and entertaining activities were organised during the annual Bun Huột Nam of Water Festival during the weekend in Dien Bien district, Dien Bien Phu province.
The two-day event, held at the Na Sang 1 Village in Nua Ngam commune, is one of the most important traditional holidays and festivals of the Vietnamese Lao people when everyone gathered and welcomed the New Year.
Illustrative photo (Vietnam+)
During the event, people worshiped for good rain and wind and abundant crops. They prayed for all things grow and develop well and to wash away the bad luck of the old year and enter the new year with good luck for everyone, families and the community.
Bun Huot Nam was also an opportunity for villagers to take part in folk games, perform traditional dances and especially join the amazing moments of water splashing.
Lao ethnic women attending the festival (Vietnam+)
Lo Thi Cuong, a Lao woman, eagerly anticipates the upcoming festival marking the 70th anniversary of the Victory of Dien Bien Phu and the National Tourism Year - Dien Bien 2024. Dressed in her finest attire, including a pha bieng scarf and a khem khat꧙ belt, she has been rehearsing with her team for a month. This year's festival, the largest to date, drew crowds to Nua Ngam.
Lo Thi Cuong, a Lao woman from Na Sang 1 village, Nua Ngam commune (right), participates in the cultural performance. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)
"Bun Huot Nam is a Lao festival where we splash water on each other to wash away the bad and bring good luck. We are proud of preserving this tradition," Cuong explained.
Splashing water on others symbolises the cleansing of all bad things, including diseases and the welcome of a thriving and healthy New Year. The wetter a person becomes, the more luck and happiness they will receive.
Lao ethnic woman perform traditional ritual at the festival. (Vietnam+)
This year's festival included other activities such as worshiping, praying, tying thread on wrist to pray for good luck; lam vong (circle dance) performance, knocking door to door asking for water; worship the gods of river and stream; and bathing in a stream, among others.
Lao people in Lai Chau (left in black) and Lao people in Dien Bien celebrate on the festival. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)
At the festival, there was also a space to display and promote cultural and tourism products, handicraft items, agricultural and OCOP products and local typical ethnic cuisine.
At the same time, local people and visitors could also admire an exhibit of items associated with the traditional culture, daily life and community activities of the Lào people in Núa Ngam Commune.
The April 13-14 festival also included a music and dance programme with unique performances imbued with ethnic minority culture by artistic clubs from villages and hamlets in Nua Ngam Commune, units and communes in Dien Bien district, native home of the Lao ethnic residents./.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium Nguyen Van Thao on April 9 visited the Lao Embassy in Brussels to extend New Year wishes to officials of the embassy on the occasion of Laos’ traditional New Year Festival Bun Pi May.
The Lao ethnic minority group in Na Sang 1 village, Dien Bien district, the northern province of Dien Bien, organised the water splashing festival (Bun Huot Nam) from April 14-16.
A ceremony was held in Na Sang 1 village, Dien Bien district, the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien on April 13 to grant the certificate of “national intangible cultural heritage” to the water splashing festival of the Lao ethnic minority group.
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