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| LAO Public Holidays & Festivals |
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| Most Lao Holidays are religious based � Buddist. Festivals are called boun January - International New Years Day - Mid-Jan Bun Khun Khao, (moveable, can be Jan or Feb) - village harvest festival, ceremonies offering thanks to land spirits helping their crops growth - Pathet Lao Day 6th, public holiday (celebrating Lao independence) - Army Day 20th, public holiday (celebrate King Vessanthara�s reincarnation as a Buddha) Sermons, processions, dance, theatre. Popular time for ordination. February - Makha Busa (Magha Puja � full moon) celebrates end of Buddha�s time in the monastary and gives a speech to a group of enlightened monks. Chantings, offerings and a candlelit night procession around Wats throughout the country (biggest celebrations are in Vientiane and at Wat Phu, near Champassak - south). - Chinese New Year and Vietnamese Tet celebrated in Vientiane, Pakse and Savannakhet. Chinese and Vietnamese businesses usually close for three days March - Lao Women�s Day 8th, public holiday for women only - People�s Party Day 22nd, public holiday April - Boun Pi Mai 13-16th, public holiday. Celebrate Lao Lunar New Year. Buddha images are brought down to be doused with holy water (song nam pha) as well as dousing each other, as a sign of cleansing the bad elements of the previous year ready for a new start of a new year (images). The celebration is particularly colourful in Luarng Prabang. May - Labour Day 1st, public holiday - Visakha Busa (full moon) 15th day of the sixth lunar month � day of the Buddha�s birth, enlightenment and passing away. Celebrations centred around wats - Boun Bang Fai (rocket festival) pre-Buddhist rain-calling ceremony, firing bamboo rockets into the sky. June - Children�s Day 1st, public holiday July - Khao Pansa (full moon) time for retreat and fasting for monks. Common time for men to enter temporarily monkhood, thus many ordination ceremonies take place during this time August/September - Haw Khao Padap Din (full moon - moveable date) paying tribute to friends and relatives who have passed away. Ceremonies at local temples - Lao Issara 13th, public holiday - Free Lao Day - Liberation Day 23rd, public holiday October/November - Boun Awk Pansa full moon (moveable date - Sep/ Oct/ Nov) marking the end of the monks fasting period. On the eve of Awk Pansa people would build small banana-leaf boats carrying candles and incense and float them in the river - known as lai hua fai. Another festival held in association with this festival is the water festival (Bun Nam) where boat races (suang hua) are common - mainly in Vientiane, Luarng Prabang and Savannakhet - Boun Pa Tat Luarng (Nov - Tat Luarng Festival, full moon). Focussed on the Pa Tat Luarng in Vientiane with hundred of monks, offerings and festivities. The celebration lasts one week attracting participants from all over Laos as well as from neighbouring countries December - Lao National Day 2nd, public holiday - celebrates the 1975 Communist victory over the Monarchy. Celebration is mand - Hmong New Year (moveable) - Boun Pa Wet - temple centred festival where the birth-tale of Prince Vessantara (the Buddha's penultimate life) is recited. This is another favourable time for ordinations into monkhood. Different dates are set specifically by individual villages and towns |
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| @Lao Intro @Lao Events @Luang Prabang @Vientiane @Pakse @Si Pan Don @Mekong @Transportation @LaoNewYear @Lao Dance |
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