April in Luang Prabang, Laos
Boun Pimai
This is to celebrate Lao New Year. The first month of the Lao New Year is actually December but festivities are delayed until April when days are longer than nights. By April it’s also hotting up, so having hoses levelled at you and buckets of water dumped on you is more pleasurable. The festival also serves to invite the rains. Pimai is one of the most important annual festivals, particularly in Luang Prabang. Statues of the Buddha (in the "calling for rain" posture) are ceremonially doused in water, which is poured along an intricately decorated trench (hang song nam pha). The small stupas of sand, decorated with streamers, in wat compounds are symbolic requests for health and happiness over the next year. It is celebrated with traditional Lao folk singing (mor lam) and the circle dance (ramwong). There is usually a 3-day holiday.
Similar festivals are celebrated in Thailand, Cambodia and Burma
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