What ethnic group celebrates Songkran and what ethnic group is Songkran Festival

Songkran is a traditional festival of the Dai, Achang, Brown, Wa, De'ang, Thai-speaking ethnic groups and Southeast Asia. Songkran originated in Persia in the 5th century A.D. and was named "Songkran Hu Opera" and gradually spread to India, Myanmar, Thailand and Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China. On the day of Songkran, people begin to celebrate for several days after bathing the Buddha.

Splashing each other with pure water and praying to wash away the bad luck of the past year is the main celebration of Songkran.

Generally speaking, the Songkran Festival is a folk festival of the Dai people, expressing their good wishes and customs.

Songkran is a traditional festival of ethnic minorities such as Dai, Achang, Brown, Wa, De'ang and some ethnic groups in the Indochina Peninsula.

The Chinese Dai festival is in June and July of the Dai calendar (about 10 days after the Qingming Festival). It is now fixed on April 13-15 of the Gregorian calendar. During the festival, people pour water on each other to bless each other, and hold activities such as worshipping Buddha, racing dragon boats, lifting high, and lighting Kong Ming lanterns.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, new contents such as parades, theatrical performances, film evenings, exhibitions and material exchanges were added. Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and other countries celebrate the festival in mid-April of the Gregorian calendar every year.

Songkran customs

Wen Po: In a more traditional way, fill a wooden basin with water, and then use a branch to dip the water on someone else. The Dai family goes to the well to get clean water, and will hold some flowers such as Burmese osmanthus in advance, so that the water has a fragrance, and then go to the temple to worship the Buddha, and then use these fragrant water to wash the dust on the body of the Buddha statue, and then everyone uses small branches (such as Jiulixiang branches) to dip the fragrant flower water in the small pot, first sprinkle it gently on the Degao or the elderly, and then help each other to sprinkle it on the person who wants to bless them.

To show the new year, give each other the most sincere and best wishes.

Wu Po: Fill a wooden basin with water and splash it all out. In the Songkran Festival, who is splashed with more water symbolizes who is the happiest in the year, and also expresses the implication that the Dai people hope for each other's peace and happiness.

Songkran is a traditional festival of the Dai, Achang, Brown, Wa, De'ang, Thai-speaking ethnic groups and Southeast Asia. On the day of the Songkran Festival, people from Xishuangbanna, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and other places in China, as well as overseas Thai settlements such as Kowloon City in Hong Kong and Zhonghe District of New Taipei City in Taiwan get up early in the morning to bathe and worship the Buddha, and then begin to celebrate for several consecutive days.

During Songkran, people will splash each other with pure water to pray for the washing away of the bad luck of the past year. Songkran is the New Year of the Dai people, which corresponds to the middle of April in the Gregorian calendar and generally lasts for 3 to 7 days.

The Songkran Festival first originated in Persia in the 5th century AD, when it was named "Pohan Hu Opera", after which "Pohan Hu Opera" was introduced from Persia to Myanmar, Thailand and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, China, through Myanmar to Buddhism in the late 12th to early 13th centuries A.D. With the deepening of the influence of Buddhism in the Dai area, the Songkran Festival has become a national custom and has been handed down.

The Songkran Festival is a comprehensive stage to show the traditional culture of the Dai people, such as water culture, dance culture, food culture, costume culture and folk admiration, and is an important window for studying the history of the Dai people. At the same time, the Songkran Festival is also an important link to strengthen the unity of the people of all ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna, and has played a positive role in the friendly cooperation and exchanges between Xishuangbanna and Southeast Asian countries, and in promoting the socio-economic and cultural development of the whole state.