Adrija Sen
August 27, 2022
World Water Week was started by Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) in 1991 in the Swedish capital. Since then, it has become an annual event in the last of August. A week-long conference is held to raise awareness about water-related challenges like climate crisis and biodiversity loss and find solutions to them.
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Let’s look at some of the ways different cultures across the world celebrate water, the source of all life!
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Thailand’s New Year celebrations in Chiang Mai include Songkran, also known as the Water Splashing Festival. Traditionally the festival was observed on the 13 April by sprinkling water onto things to purge the old and begin anew in the new year. Now the holiday period extends from 14 to 15 April with parades and water fights with neighbours and strangers alike!
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The Burmese New Year is celebrated in Myanmar with festivities that include people offering prayers, following cleansing rituals, giant water fights and dancing in the streets. You can also try local dishes like sweet rice balls prepared especially for this holiday.
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In Southeast China, one can find Jinghong, a city not far from the border of Myanmar, which observes a similar festival. Their Water Splashing Festival is the most solemn for the Dai people in Yunnan Province. After following traditional practices for the first two days, people in Jinghong indulge in a free-for-all water fight on the third day!
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Armenia’s water festival Vardavar is all about splashing water on each other, including strangers. This festival dates back to a harvest-time celebration of fertility, which is today seen as an opportunity to drench your friends and family in water and flowers. The festival was named after Astghik, a goddess of water, beauty, love and fertility.
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Boun Pi Mai or Lao New Year celebrates the Buddhist and Hindu New Year in mid-April. The festival lasts for three days, with people splashing each other with perfumed water on the third day. Water is also splashed on animals, trees, temples, and in the house to ward off negativity.
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Cambodia celebrates its Water and Moon Festival, Bon Om Touk, in November. The festival is a celebration of the end of the rainy season on the full moon and also marks the Tonle Sap River changing direction. Three ceremonies- night boat parade, moon salutations, and eating Ambok, the traditional rice dish prepared on this day- is a part of the celebration.
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Although the boat races of Kerala don’t strictly celebrate water, it does celebrate the beauty and magnificence of the backwaters! These races are one of the oldest traditions of the state and draw thousands who go to watch the snake-shaped boats go head to head in rhythm.
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