Do Chinese have Carnival? The answer is yes! For people looking forward to participating in the Carnival within China, Xishuangbanna Water-Splashing Festival is undoubtedly one of the best choices! Xishuangbanna Water-Splashing Festival 2013 was just held between the 12th and 16th of April, attracting tens of thousands of locals and tourists together to enjoy the unprecedented Carnival atmosphere.
The annual Water-Splashing Festival (also known as Buddha Bathing Ceremony) held in Xishuangbanna, SW China's Yunnan province is scheduled to celebrate the new year of the Dai Calendar. In this grand ceremonial occasion, Dai ethnic people who make up 34% of the total population of Xishuangbanna wore brightly colored costumes to ring out the old and ring in the new by slashing water on each other.
For Dai people, water stands for holiness, purity, brightness, and the source of life. Prepared to be watered and fall in love with it! As always, people armed with buckets, basins or any containers full of pure water assembled in the public parks and squares, on the roadside, along the riverbank, and then splashed water on each other cheerfully, expressing goodwill and happiness, no matter they are neighbors or friends or strangers.
To celebrate the New Year, water splashing was only part of the ceremony. There were also other traditional activities of interest, like dragon-boat races, minority song and dance performances, commodity fairs, parades, and throwing colorful pouches for expressing love among unmarried men and women. Many tourists found the Water-Splashing Festival the most unforgettable experience touring China.
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