Water-Splashing Festival
泼水节
The Water-Splashing Festival is the Year,as well as the most important traditional festival，observed by the Dai nationality in Yunnan Province of China. The festival usually lasts 3-5 days somewhere between early the 6th month and early the 7th month of the Dai calendar.
在泼水节是一年中最重要的传统节日之一，是中国云南省傣族的节日。节日通常持续3-5天，在傣族日历的第6个月的上旬及第7个月的上旬之间。
The second day of the festival,which is the liveliest,sees water splashing.All people，men and women,old and young,taking along buckets or basins,come to broad streets. The streets are lined,on both sides,with containers of clear water which is scent or has petals floating on. When the entertainment begins，festival celebrators splash the water over their relatives, friends or acquaintances, wishing that they would be lucky and free from adversities or diseases. The ways to splash water fall into gentle splashing and violent splashing, depending on how intimate the target is to the splasher and how old the target is. The gentle splashing is done to venerable elders. In doing it the splasher, while speaking some blessing words, pulls away an elder's collar and gently tips into the opening a ladle of clean water which flows down the targets back, while the target should willingly accept the splashing and reciprocate the splasher's good wishes by blessing. The violent splashing is done to others but the elder. In doing it the splasher is free to splash water,from a gourd ladle,a basin or a pale,over a target,and the target likewise splashes back. The more water one bears, the happier he feels. All the amusement makers dance, sing, and laugh heartily while splashing,entirely lost in pleasure. Some young men even go to bamboo dwelling houses and splash water over girls there,a symbol of love.
节日的第二天是最热闹的，看泼水.所有的人，无论男女老少，拿着水桶或脸盆，来到宽阔的街道。街道两旁，那里有带香味的清水是或有花瓣浮在容器内。当娱乐开始时，人们往他们的亲戚，朋友或熟人身上泼水，希望他们幸运，远离逆境或疾病。水溅落轻或暴力飞溅，取决于被泼人之间的亲密程度，轻轻的泼水是为尊敬长辈。在此过程中泼水这一边讲一些祝福的话，一边挣脱开一位长者的衣领，轻轻地往他们身上泼水，而目标应该心甘情愿地接受水的飞溅和以良好祝愿回报泼水者。暴力飞溅是给别人的，除了长辈。在此过程中泼水者用盆瓢向别人溅水，而被泼者也泼回去。一个人被泼的水越多快乐越多。所有的人跳舞，唱歌和欢笑而水飞溅，完全沉浸在乐趣中。有些年轻人甚至去竹民居和往女孩身上泼水，这是爱的象征。