Festivals

Laos holds several festivals throughout the year, and most are based on the lunar calendar. The major festivals include:

Bun Pha Wet (January) This festival is a commemoration of the Jataka, the life story of Lord Buddha as Prince Vestsantara, which is recited in village temples throughout the country. This is considered a particularly auspicious time, as young men are ordained as monks.

Magha Puja (February) Held nationwide during the full moon, this festival commemorates the time when Lord Buddha gave his original teachings to over a thousand monks who arrived spontaneously to hear him speak. The festival is marked by parades with participants carrying candles as they circle their local temples while singing and chanting to make merit.

Vietnamese Tet & Chinese New Year (January or February) This holiday is mostly celebrated by the larger Vietnamese and Chinese communities in Vientiane, Pakse and Savannakhet, who close their businesses for several days to visit temples, make merit and pay homage to their ancestors.

Boun Khoun Khao (March) This is a harvest festival celebrated at local temples.

Boun Pimai (mid-April) The Lao New Year lasts several days, and is a combination of merriment and meditation, celebrated with parades, dancing, singing and water-throwing, especially in Luang Prabang, where Buddha statues are revered in water-pouring ceremonies. Temple compounds are decorated with small sand stupas as a way to make merit for good fortune and health.

Visakha Puja (May) This day commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha with chanting, religious teachings and candlelit processions.

Boun Bang Fai Rocket Festival (May) This festival has its origins in pre-Buddhist rain-invoking ceremonies, and now coincides with the Visakha Puja celebrations. Parades, singing and dancing climax when huge, ornate, homemade bamboo rockets are blessed and then launched to invoke rain.

Khao Phansaa (June/July) This holiday marks the beginning of the three-month Buddhist Lent, which continues until the full moon in October. This is considered a particularly auspicious time for young Lao men, who enter the monkhood during ceremonies held at their village temples.

Haw Khao Padap Din (August) This sombre time is devoted to remembering and paying respect to the dead through a ceremony in which they are exhumed, cleaned, and cremated on the night of the full moon. Relatives present gifts to the monks who chant on behalf of those who passed away.

Awk Phansaa (October) This marks the end of the three-month Buddhist Lent during which monks, who can now leave the temple, are presented with gifts. One aspect of this holiday is the Lai Hua Fai ritual when people gather at the nearest body of water to release small banana-leaf boats decorated with candles, incense and small flowers, in a celebration similar to Loy Krathong in Thailand.

Bun Nam Water Festival (October) This festival is celebrated in riverside towns such as Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Savannakhet, where Bun Nam boat races are held in conjunction with Awk Phansaa. Smaller communities sometimes hold these races on National Day on 2 December.

Boun That Luang (November) Centred at That Luang in Vientiane and celebrated at temples throughout the country, this week-long festival is marked by fairs, beauty contests, music and fireworks, and ends with a candlelight procession around That Luang.