Dai Water Splashing Festival

The Dai Water Splashing Festival is the Dai New Year, called "Sangken Bimai" in the Xishuangbanna Dai tongue; it began in India as a Buddhist observance and melded with native Dai culture into the people's greatest festival of the year. On 20 May 2006 it was inscribed, declared by the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, on the first national ICH list.

Over the festival the Dai splash water for blessing, gather at fairs, race dragon boats, bathe Buddha images and chant, accompanied by zhangha singing, peacock and white-elephant dances, the firing of rockets and fireworks and the floating of water lanterns, a single vessel carrying the whole of Dai water culture, song and dance, food and dress.

The festival is the great summation of Dai culture, bearing its faith, calendar, music, dance and custom, the central rite that holds Dai identity and cultural transmission together, and a key window onto Dai society and Theravada Buddhist culture.