Water-Sprinkling Festival (Dai)
13 April 2026 — A drop of starlight for you – may the old wash away and luck arrive!
The Water-Sprinkling Festival is the new year celebration of the Dai people, who live mainly in the Xishuangbanna area of Yunnan Province in southern China. It is closely related to Thailand's Songkran and similar festivals across Southeast Asia, which mark the traditional new year and the end of the dry season. It is usually held in mid-April, most often around 13–15 April, though exact dates can vary by year and by community. Water stands for purification: it washes away the old, illness and misfortune, and brings luck and health. People splash one another with water and exchange good wishes, and elders are often sprinkled gently as a sign of respect. Dragon-boat races, music and dance are also part of the celebrations. The link to the sky is the calendar itself: the Dai new year follows a traditional calendar that combines solar and lunar reckoning, and it falls in the season following the spring equinox. The date of 13 April is approximate.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure of a young Dai woman made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky
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