Festivals in Laos are mostly linked to agri­cultural seasons or Buddhist holidays. The word for festival in Lao is bun (or boun). Most of festival dates change according to the lunar calendar, though even these are not set in stone and some festivals are celebrated at different times depending on where you are. All of this makes advance planning diffi­cult. The government tourism website (www. tourismlaos.gov.la) has more details and lists the current year's dates for the larger celebrations.

JANUARY

International New Year (1-3 January) public holiday. Bun Khun Khao (mid-January) The annual harvest festival sees villagers perform ceremonies offering thanks to the land spirits for allowing their crops to flourish.

FEBRUARY

Makha Busa (Magha Puja or Bun Khao Chi, Full Moon) This commemorates a speech given by the Buddha to 1250 enlightened monks who came to hear him without prior summons. Chanting and offerings mark the festival, culminating in candlelit circumambulation of wats throughout the country. Celebrations in Vientiane and at Wat Phu (p268) are most fervent. Vietnamese Tet & Chinese New Year (Tut Jiin) Celebrated in Vientiane, Pakse and Savannakhet with parties, fireworks and visits to Vietnamese and Chinese temples. Chinese- and Vietnamese-run businesses usually close for three days.

MARCH

Bun Pha Wet This is a temple-centre festival in which the Jataka or birth-tale of Prince Vessantara, the Buddha's penultimate life, is recited. This is also a favored time (second to Khao Phansa) for lao males to be ordained into the monkhood. Bun Pha Wet is celebrated on different days in different villages so relatives and friends from different villages can invite one another to their respective celebrations.

APRIL

Bun Pi Mai (Lao New Year, 14-16 April) practically the whole country celebrates the Lao new year. Houses are cleaned, people put on new clothes and Buddha images are washed with lustrum water. In wats, you'll see fruit and flower offerings at altars and votive mounds of sand or stone in the courtyards. Later, people douse one another and sometimes random tourists with water, which is an appropriate activity as April is usually the honest month of the year. This festival is particularly picturesque in Luang Prabang, where it includes elephant proces­sions and lots of traditional costuming. The 14th, 15th and 16th of April are public holidays.

MAY

Visakha Busa (Visakha Puja, Full Moon) This falls on the 15th day of the sixth lunar month, which is considered the day of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinibbano (passing away). Activities are centre on the wat, with much chanting, sermonizing and, at night, beautiful candlelit processions. Bun Bang Fai (Rocket Festival) this is a pre-Buddhist rain ceremony now celebrated alongside Visakha Busa in Laos and northeastern Thailand. It can be one of the wildest festivals in the whole country, with music, dance and folk theatre (especially the irreverent maw lam performances), processions and general merrymaking, all culminating in the firing of bamboo rockets into the sky. The firing of the rockets is supposed to prompt the heavens to initiate the rainy season and bring much-needed water to the rice fields. Dates vary from village to village.

JULY

Bun Khao Phansa (Khao Watsa, Full Moon) this is the beginning of the traditional three-month 'rains retreat, during which Buddhist monks are expected to station themselves in a single monastery. At other times of year they are allowed to travel from wat to wat or simply to wander the countryside, but during the rainy season they forego the wandering so as not to damage fields of rice or other crops. This is also the traditional time of year for men to enter the monkhood temporarily, hence many ordinations take place.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

Haw Khao Padap Din (Full Moon) This somber festival sees the living pay respect to the dead. Many cremations take place - bones being exhumed for the purpose - and gifts are presented to the Buddhist order (Sangha) so monks will chant on behalf of the deceased.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

 Bun Awk Phansa (Ok Watsa, Full Moon) At the end of the three-month rains retreat, monks can leave the monasteries to travel and are presented with robes, alms-bowls and other requisites of the denudate life. The eve of Awk Phansa is celebrated with parties and, near any river, with the release of small banana-leaf boats carrying candles and incense in a ceremony called Van Loi Heua Fai, similar to Loy Krathong in Thailand. Bun Nam (Bun suang heua; Boat Racing Festival) in many river towns, including Vientiane and Luang Prabang, boat races are held the day after Awk Phansa. In smaller towns the races are often postponed until National Day (2 December) so residents aren't saddled with two costly festivals in two months.

NOVEMBER

Bun Pha That Luang (That Luang Festival, Full Moon) Central around Pha That Luang in Vientiane, this increas­ingly commercial celebration lasts a week and includes fireworks, music and drinking across the capital. There is also a procession between Pha That Luang and Wat Si Muang. Early on the first morning hundreds of monks receives alms and floral offerings. The festival ends with a fantastic candlelit procession circling That Luang.

DECEMBER

Lao National Day (2 December) this public holiday cel­ebrates the 1975 victory over the monarchy with parades, speeches etc. Lao national and Communist hammer-and-sickle flags are flown all over the country. Celebration is mandatory; hence many poorer communities postpone some of the traditional Awk Phansa activities until National Day, saving themselves considerable expense (much to the detriment of Awk Phansa).