Dai Water Festival

The festival

The Water Festival is the New Year's Day of the Dai people, the largest ethnic festival of Xishuangbanna, in the tropical south of Yunnan: "Sangkang Bimai" in the Dai language. Celebrated from April 13 to 15, with more than a thousand years of history, it is one of the first elements of China's intangible cultural heritage. Water symbolizes purity, happiness and augurs.

The cycle lasts three days: dragon boat races on the Lancang River to dismiss the past year, Buddha's bath ceremony in the temples — the holy water poured on the statue signals the beginning of the rejoicings — and on the third day, the great general splash: the whole city of Jinghong descends into the street with basins, buckets and water guns to sprinkle each other with blessings.

In 2026, the Xishuangbanna festivities ran from April 12 to 15, with the water extraction ceremony and the general water battle on the 15th on Jinghong Water Square, the collective release of Kongming Lanterns on the 13th and 14th evening and the traditional markets along the Lancang. It is the Chinese cousin of the Thai Songkran, celebrated on the same dates across the border.