LAOS EVENTS & FESTIVALS -LUANG PRABANG

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 LUANG PRABANG

25^TH FEBRUARY BOUN KHAO CHI ( MAKHA BOUCHA DAY)

A ceremony is held at the “ Vat “ temple in the morning , when special “ bread “ , made of sticky rice, is offered. This festival is held during the third full moon of the lunar calendar.

MARCH , BOUN PHA VET ( VESANDON CHADOK FEST IVAL)

A ceremony for offering donations  in order to have one’s future read from a piece of paper drawn during the 3 day and 3 night festival.

14^TH -16^TH APRIL LAO NEW YEAR “ BOUN PI MAI”

VENUE : LUANG PRABANG TOWN

Boun Pimai New Year festival, begins in mid April and lasts for 3 days. Held before the onset of the rainy seasons, it recognize the importance of water in peoples’ lives . It also a purification festival during which the Buddha images in the household and the temples are ritually cleaned with sacred water. The Prabang image is moved out of the national museum during the festival to be purified in the ground of Vat Mai. People then pour and splash each other with the water from cleaning ceremonies bring them luck for the coming year. The most elaborate New Years festival rites in the Lao PDR are held in Luang Prabang with processions of the legendary guardian spirit of town. Traditionally, Boun Pi Mai also served to reaffirm Lao kingship.

25^th MAY -15^TH JUNE ROCKET FESTIVAL “ BOUN BANG FAI”

This festival is a rain making and Fertility festival. Held just before the rainy season, it is a wild and happy ceremony, involving music, dance and street processions culminating in  the firing of rockets. Rockets are fired to tempt the gods to produce rain needed for rice cultivation; they are also fired to send  the naga from the river into the rice field in order to attract rain. This festival is held in Muang Nan District.

24^th MAY BOUN VISAKHA BOUCHA DAY

This festival is held during the sixth full moon of the lunar calendar for the Buddha. Candlelight processions are held in temples to mark the birth date of the Buddha.

22^nd JULY ( OR THE EIGHT LUNAR MONTH OF BUDDHIST CALENDAR

BOUN ASALAHABOUCHA AND BOUN KHAO PANSA (BUDDHIST LENT)

This marks the beginning of the Buddhist Lent. During the next 3 month period, monks spend most of their time in prayer and meditations are restricted from spending nights in temples other than their own.

4^th SEPTEMBER BOAT RACING FESTIVAL AND BOUN KHAO PADAB DIN

VENUE : LUANG PRABANG TOWN

Held on the full moon. During this festival is held during the ninth Buddhist lunar month and is an important part of traditional agriculture cycle. The festival pays tribute to the naga, (mythical snake water deities) with the intention of drawing the naga from the flooded rice fields back into the river. This festival also commemorates the end of the rainy season and brings luck for an abundant harvest; it is also includes boat racing on the Nam Khan River.

19 SEPTEMBER BOUN KHAO SALAK (ANCESTOR FESTIVAL DAY)

In this festival, offerings are made for dead ancestors to obtain merit. Popular and exciting longboat racing competitions are held to celebrate the river. This festival is held during the tenth full moon of lunar calendar.

 19^th OCTOBER BOUN LAI HEUA FAI

A festival for the phanga naga, it is held on order to bring good luck. Each village makes and decorates a boat. These boats are then paraded through the town and night are launched on the river and ceremoniously set on fire as offerings to spirits .This festival involves floating the ritual flowers  onto the river , to send off bad luck and give thanks to the water spirits. On holding boat races , people ritually reclaim the land from the naga, chasing them out from fields and streams and back into Mekong River.