Dai People's open door Festival and open door Festival
The water sprinkling Festival is held during the Dai new year. Everyone is quite familiar with this festival. People may be unfamiliar with the closed door Festival and the open door Festival.
The closing day, called 'haovasa' in Dai language, means entering the period of teaching Buddhism. It is scheduled to be held on September 15 of the Dai calendar (mostly in the middle of June of the lunar calendar). The day when the three-month period of teaching Dharma ends, that is, December 25 of the Dai calendar, is the "open door Festival". The opening day is called 'owasa' in Dai, which means going out of the period of teaching Buddhism.
During the closing Festival, it is a major activity for people to listen to eminent monks in Buddhist temples. The content taught by eminent monks is inseparable from the stories of Buddhists, so as to educate all sentient beings to become Buddhists. In the three months from the closing day to the opening day, the Dai family has a lot of stress, such as not holding a wedding, not building a new house, not going far away, focusing on production and regularly going to Buddhist temples to worship and worship Buddha. Pious elders who believe in Buddhism will consciously fast, wear white clothes, wrap white cloth headscarves, and some will stay in the temple. Every seven days, a Buddha worship activity is held, which is called "multi star" in Dai language. At that time, believers will bring food and wax strips to offer sacrifices to the Buddha, listen to the chanting of scriptures by eminent monks in the temple, and explain the rules, commandments and Buddhist Scripture stories. During this period, there will also be a major event called 'pitan' (offering Scriptures).
At the end of the three-month "closed door Sutra teaching", the Dai family held an open door festival celebration. Believers brought paper flowers, wax strips, flowers, trees, food and coins to the Buddhist temple to hold a Grand Buddha worship and Sutra chanting activity. At this time, we still eat alms and monks' meals. At night, people set off fireworks, set off high rises, light Kongming lanterns, dance in the Buddhist temple, and dance lanterns around the villages to celebrate the end of the fasting period. After this night, the Dai village has resumed its amorous and romantic life in the past. Monks can go out of Buddhism, believers can go far away, the Dai family can build new houses, and young people can talk about love and hold weddings.
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