More
calendars, more New Year's celebrations! Keep reading; the Lao New
Year sounds super fun!
Cambodian
Khmer New Year was a couple of days ago (April 13), but it is
celebrated for several days. Today, the third day, is Tngay
Leang Saka,
the day to bathe statues of Buddha with
perfumed water. People also bathe elderly relatives and get good
wishes and advice from their elders. Other festivities include
colorful costumes and rituals and performances.
Cambodia
and several other Southeast Asian nations count this new year as 2556
BE (Buddhist Era). But of course many Cambodian people must also use
the “Western” (Gregorian) calendar, with the year 2012, because
of international business connections. I suppose keeping track of two
calendars might be like keeping track of time in several time zones,
as do many people with faraway family or business connections.
In
Laos, New Year (Pii Mai) is also celebrated for several days.
Today is the day to return the statues of Buddha to the temples after
being ritually cleaned yesterday.
Well,
that sounds very proper, almost boring, but I guess New Year
Lao-style is anything but boring!
In Vientiane, the
capital city, at least, there is one huge water fight that goes all weekend
long and encompasses the entire city. People are sprayed and sloshed
with water and splashed with water balloons—even tourists and outsiders!—and Lao revelers even spray each other with talcum powder.
There are casual do-it-yourself
parades of decorated cars, trucks and “tuk-tuks” driving by,
blaring music and shooting water guns at the crowds, who throw water
right back! People in costumes fling water balloons at the crowd and get doused right back.
Everything is closed down—even most restaurants—but
hotels and “guest houses” will feed visitors. Tourists are warned
to wear their oldest clothes—the coloring in the talcum powder
might not come out! They're also advised to get a dive bag or other
waterproof bag for cameras, phones, or anything else that might be
damaged from getting wet—because the entire city is one big splash
zone!
To
see how casual the revelry is, check out the top video and the slide
show near the bottom of this article. Or check out this British tourist trying to stay dry.
Also
on this date:
Thanks for the information, good information and very helpful for others.it was great reading this article! I would like to know more! keep in touch and stay connected! Also write some article on business funding.
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