Laos new year (Pi mai Laos)

Pi Mai Lao or Lao New year is the liveliest anniversary of the year and one that anybody looks advanced to, as it is a time if abounding humans appointment their families all over the country. It takes abode about 13-15th April, the hottest allotment of the year, which is why no one absolutely minds getting consistently wet from the baptize getting befuddled everywhere.
Lao New Year - Baptize action on streets
The three canicule of Pi Mai
The aboriginal day is the endure day of the old year. Perfume, baptize and flowers are able for the Lao New Year. In temples all over the country, Buddha images are taken down from their abiding places and placed on appropriate acting easy-to-access places aural the wat (temple) compounds so villagers can cascade ambrosial baptize on them. They again aggregate the baptize that runs off the Buddha images and yield it home to cascade on ancestors members, accompany and relatives. This is believed to bless, apple-pie and absolve the receivers afore entering the Lao New Year.

The additional day of the Lao New Year anniversary is the "day of no day", a day that avalanche in neither the old year nor the new year. Houses and villages are appropriately bankrupt on the additional day. Traditionally elders will not acquiesce adolescent humans to yield nap or break still on the additional day as it’s believed that if one sleeps or stays still one will get ailing in the advancing year. They animate adolescent humans to apple-pie their places and go out to cascade baptize on added elders in the apple and ambition them well, and assuredly get wet themselves. This is a way to apple-pie and forward bad things abroad with the old year.
Lao New Year - Admirers apple-pie buddha images with ambrosial water
The endure day of the anniversary marks the alpha of the new year. This day abounding families will authority a Baci at their houses to acceptable Lao New Year as able-bodied as to ambition their elders acceptable bloom and continued life. Some ability respectfully ask for absolution from their elders for things that they did in the accomplished year that ability accept aching their animosity unintentionally. And at the aforementioned time they accord the elders gifts.
In backward afternoon or black of the endure day, in the temples, the Buddha images are confused aback to their abiding homes. On that aforementioned black admirers go to wats to accept to the monks chanting as an act to ask for absolution from the monks as able-bodied as from the Buddha images for what they did (pouring baptize on them) in this accomplished few canicule that ability accept accidentally affected them (monks and Buddha are not to be touched). After that, a vien tien – a candlelight advance – takes abode about the wat and that is the end of the Lao New Year celebration.
Pi Mai traditions
A man cloudburst baptize on passers-by
Water is for abrasion homes, Buddha images, monks, and assimilation accompany and passers-by. Students aboriginal respectfully cascade baptize on their elders, again monks for blessings of continued activity and peace, and endure of all they bandy baptize on anniversary other. The baptize is ambrosial with flowers or accustomed perfumes. Some humans adopt flowers in the baptize to accord a affable smell, as able-bodied as abacus cologne/perfume. The abstraction of watering came from the fable of King Kabinlaphom, whose seven daughters kept his burst arch in a cave. The daughters would appointment their father's arch every year and accomplish a ritual to accompany beatitude and acceptable weather. Sometimes humans aswell bandy white crumb on anniversary added during the celebrations.
Beach is brought to the temple area and is fabricated into stupas or mounds, again busy afore getting accustomed to the monks as a way of authoritative merit. There are two means to accomplish the beach stupas. One way is to go to the river bed and body them application river sand, and the added way is to accompany beach to the wat. Beach stupas are busy with flags, flowers, white lines, and splashed with ambrosial water. Beach stupas symbolise the mountain, Phoukao Kailat, area King Kabinlaphom's arch was kept by his seven daughters.
Lao New Year - Beach stupa
Sand stupas fabricated in a Wat to accomplish arete in Pi Mai Lao
Another way to accomplish arete at this time is to set animals free. The Lao accept that even animals charge to be free. The a lot of frequently freed animals are tortoises, fish, crabs, birds, eels, and added baby animals.
Flowers are aggregate to adorn images of the Buddha. In the afternoons humans aggregate beginning flowers. Senior monks yield the adolescent monks to a garden abounding with flowers, area they aces flowers and accompany aback to the wat to wash. Humans who didn't participate in the anniversary acrimonious accompany baskets to ablution the flowers so the flowers can flash with the Buddha statues.
Luang Prabang
Lao New Year - array in Luang Prabang
Pi Mai Lao - Array in Luang Prabang
Pi Mai Lao is decidedly amazing in Luang Prabang as this is area there are abounding parades and added festivities, which commonly endure about a week.
The religious highlight is if the admired Prabang Buddha angel is agitated through the streets in a aureate abode accurate by two continued poles, agitated by adolescent men. Leading the array are two ashamed allegorical characters alleged Pou Gneu and Gna Gneu (Grandpa and Grandma Gneu). At parade’s end, the bronze is placed at Vat May area it rests for the three-day festival. Throughout this time humans cascade baptize ambrosial with flowers over it.
There is an anniversary adorableness celebration in Luang Prabang alleged the Nang sangkhane pageant. There are seven contestants, anniversary one symbolising one of King Kabinlaphom's seven daughters and they ride down the street, sometimes on elephants.
In the evenings, there will be processions of nagas, lanterns and abounding acceptable performances.
Don’t overlook to ambition anybody a blessed Lao New Year, souksan van pi mai or sabidee pimai, and smile while you get wet.