Do the Dai people celebrate the Spring Festival?

The Water Splashing Festival is the New Year in the Dai calendar, and the Dai people also celebrate the Spring Festival.

As a Han nationality born and raised in Xishuangbanna (actually considered a minority locally), celebrating the Water Splashing Festival (i.e. the Dai New Year, the most solemn festival of the year for the Dai people, just like the Spring Festival for the Han people) has always been The most anticipated thing of the year. I have been celebrating the Water Splashing Festival since I can remember. From that time to this day, I look forward to the Water Splashing Festival even more than the Spring Festival. Because, although there are delicious food and nice clothes during the Spring Festival, we still stay at home all the time, which becomes boring after a long time. During the Water Splashing Festival, in addition to enjoying the water-splashing carnival, you can also go to the Dai village to catch up, buy a variety of Dai specialty snacks, watch various traditional songs and dances performed by the Dai people, watch the excitement, and grab blue water. Gaosheng (a homemade earth rocket made by the Dai people) fell from the sky, and I was really excited and excited!

The Water Splashing Festival has been celebrated like this for decades. Although the local Han people also set off firecrackers and fireworks during the Spring Festival, and other ethnic groups in the state also have their own festivals, the Water Splashing Festival has always been the most grand and lively festival in Xishuangbanna. Of course, with the acceleration of the information society we have entered, the trend of communication and integration among various ethnic groups has become more and more obvious. The form of the Water Splashing Festival has slightly changed, but as a national festival, it has always been inherited. Traditional things show the iconic difference between the Dai nation and other ethnic groups. This difference is something that is woven into the blood. It is also dependent on or possessed by the environment in which they live and the culture they have inherited. It cannot be changed by a certain government or a certain action.

Comparing my experience of celebrating the Spring Festival and the Water-splashing Festival in the past thirty years, I can see that the two festivals actually reflect the characteristics of two nationalities. Relatively speaking, the Spring Festival is more personal or private, and its celebration is limited to within the family; while the Water Splashing Festival is a more group festival, involving a wider scope, at least it is a group activity in a certain village. . For the Han people, the theme and content of the Spring Festival is nothing more than family reunions and filial piety to the elders; for the Dai people, in addition to its traditional significance, the Water Splashing Festival also has a deeper meaning: they have been disadvantaged for thousands of years. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, ethnic minorities such as the Dai ethnic group have achieved equality, and the inferiority complex that has been formed for a long time has been greatly changed. This has enabled them, ethnic minorities and disadvantaged people, to feel proud and proud, and to have the ability to be a minority group. The pride of being able to live on an equal footing with powerful ethnic groups such as the Han. The festivals of this nation have naturally become an important carrier for them to display their national traditions and gain respect and recognition from other ethnic groups.