Water Splashing Festival

In Yunnan province, in the middle of April, a special festival is celebrated by the Dai ethnic minority group, which involves some boisterous water fun. The festival has strong echoes of the similar Thai Water Festival of Songkran, as some of the ethnic minority groups in China have close cultural ties with those of Indo-China and enjoy the same ancient traditions. The festival can last for up to five days. Prayers are said in Buddhist temples, statues of the Lord Buddha are thoroughly cleaned, and people dress up as peacocks to perform traditional dances. Best of all there is a wealth of food, such as dan dan noodles, glutinous rice dumplings in bamboo leaves, red bean paste cakes and numerous chicken dishes.