Pii Mai (Lao New Year)
14/04/2011 - 16/04/2011
Laos New Year is the biggest and most famous of the festivals in Laos, and is one of the Hid Sip Song (12 traditional festivals).
On the 14th April, Buddha images are taken out of the temples to be cleansed with scented water by devotees, and placed on special temporary altars within the temple grounds. Devotees gather the scented water falling off the images to take home and pour on friends and relatives as an act of cleansing and purification before entering the New Year. On the evening of the 15th, the images are returned to their proper shrines within the temples.
Boun Pi Mai is a time of much celebration, with good deeds and prayers in anticipation of the new year.
