LAOS EVENTS & FESTIVALS - BOKEO

LAOS celebrate several annual festivals called " Boun" particularly enjoyable and beautiful aspects of the traditional Lao lifestyle . Most festivals are connected with religion and the yearly rice farming cycle; while the timing of the festivals is calculated according to the Buddhist lunar calendar.

EVENTS & FESTIVALS IN BOKEO

28^TH DECEMBER - 5^TH JANUARY  - AKHA AND LAHU NEW YEAR

28^TH DECEMBER – 5^TH JANUAR – HMONG NEW YEAR

28^TH DECEMBER – 5^TH JANUARY – LAN AND YAO NEW YEAR

28^TH DECEMBER – 5^TH JANUARY – PANNA AND TAI NEUA NEW YEAR

“SPIRITS OF THE NEW RICE FESTIVAL “ KHMU AND MON –KHMER SPEAKING ETHNIC GROUPS

25^TH FEBRUARY – 10^TH KAPOK FLOWER FESTIVAL ( BOUN DOK NGIEW)

VENUE : TON PEUNG DISTRICT

A Major event in Bokeo province, festivities are concentrated around Don Sao Island upriver in Ton Peung district. The festival incorporates market fairs , parties , dancing and a local beauty pageant.

25^TH FEBRUARY  BOUN MAKHA BOUSA DAY

This festival is held on the full moon to commemorate the speech given by the Lord Buddha to 1250 enlightened monks that gathered spontaneously without prior notice. In the evening, the faithful visit local temples and walk around the vat there times with candles in a ceremony known as vien tian. Here in Bokeo, this is a special festival and late in the evening, the locals build large bonfires at the temples.

25^th FEBRUARY  BOUN KHAO CHI

A ceremony associated with Maka Bousa, this is a special offering of sticky rice , coated with eggs and roasted , for the monks. Deceased ancestors are called to come and receive alms at the temple.

14^th – 16 APRIL  LAO NEW YEAR “ BOUN PI MAI LAO”

The Boun Pimai New Year Festival , beginning mid April , lasts for 3 days . Held before the onset of the rainy seasons , it recognizes the important of water in people’s lives . It’s also a purification festival during which Buddha images in the household and the temples are ritually cleaned with sacred water. The water from cleaning ceremonies is then poured or splashed by people on to each other to bring them luck for the upcoming year.

25^th – 30^th APRIL THE ROCKET FESTIVAL “ BOUN BANG FAI”

Rocket festival or Boun Bang Fai , is held in mid in April , just before the wet season. The celebration includes Lao street dancing , music, drinking .water fights , as well as rocket firing. These rockets are fired to tempt gods to bring rain for the rice fields.

24^TH MAY BOUN VISAKHA BOUSA ( VISAKABUSA DAY)

This festival celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Lord Buddha. It is held on 15^th day of  the sixth lunar month. Beautiful candlelit processions take place in the evening.

10^th -15^th JUNE  “ VOR SALEE FESTIVAL” LAHU ETHNIC GROUP

22^ND JULY BOUN KHAO PHANSA (BUDDHIST LENT)

This is the beginning of the 3 month long Buddhist Lent. All monks stop travelling to stay at the temple for prayer and meditation. It is also a time for the ordination of men entering monkhood.

4^th SEPTEMBER BOUN KHAO PADAP DIN ( RICE GROWING FESTIVAL DAY)

This ceremony is an offering to the Ancestor Spirits .It is a tradition that this time of the year those spirits are believed to have been released from the “ plain of hell” to receive offerings  by is followed, 15 days later, by Boun Haw Khao Salark, when offerings are made to the Ancestors’ spirit on their last day before returning to the afterlife and the day they are able to take the offerings and prayers with them.

19^TH SEPTEMBER BOUN KHAO SALAK ( ANCESTOR FESTIVAL DAY)        

Offerings including daily necessities, such as books, pens , sugar and coffee are made to specific monks based on a lottery system. Laypeople also give beautiful wax flower candles to the monks to gain merit.

19^th OCTOBER BOUN ORK PHANSA ( END OF BUDDHIST LENT)

VENUE : MEUANG XAY , MEUANG LA DISTRICT

Held on the full moon, which marks the end of the rainy season, monks who were ordained during the 3 month lent period leave the vat to reunite with their families. In a charming ceremony during the evening of Van Ork Pansa, small banana leaf boats called heua fai are launched on rivers with offerings of incense , candles and small amounts of money to bring luck and prosperity.

25^th -30^th SEPTEMBER “ SWIDDEN RICE FIELD FESTIVAL” PERFORMED BY THE LAHU ETHNIC GROUP BEFORE THE HARVEST .