Water festivals around the world

Streets full of people running with buckets and water guns, thousands of candles floating on rivers, boat races and mud baths – this is what water festivals around the world look like. Some are part of New Year’s cleansing rituals, some are religious in nature, and some are just great, joyful fun. Here’s a compilation of unique festivals in which water plays a central role.

Water festivals in Asia

Songkran – the largest water festival in the world

Songkran is by far the largest water festival in the world. In mid-April, Thailand turns into a huge wet arena – the streets of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other cities fill with crowds of people armed with buckets, water guns or fire hoses. This is a celebration of the Thai New Year, in which the spectacular dousing of oneself with water is combined with the symbolism of purification, renewal and a good beginning. In the traditional view, the water is meant to wash away what is bad and bring prosperity for the months ahead.

We wrote more about this festival in the article: World’s largest water festival

Thingyan – the Burmese equivalent of Songkran

In mid-April, Myanmar celebrates Thingyan, a five-day New Year festival. During this time, many cities and towns across the country immerse themselves in water, music and street hustle and bustle. The dousing is meant to symbolically wash away the bad luck of the past months. Along with street revelry, visits to temples, acts of charity and family gatherings are important. Thingyan thus combines joy with tradition and a sense of community.

Pi Mai – Laotian festival of water and new beginnings

In Laos, a similar role is played by Pi Mai, or Lao New Year, celebrated every year from April 14 to 16. It’s one of the most important moments in the Laotian calendar: a time of cleaning, family gatherings and temple visits. Here, water is first used to wash Buddha images, and later becomes part of the street party. It symbolizes purification, renewal and a successful entry into the next year.

Dai minority water festival – Chinese festival of happiness and purification

In Yunnan province, the Dai community celebrates its locally related New Year’s Water-Splashing Festival. The festival usually falls in mid-April and lasts three days in many places. Dousing oneself with water is said to bring good luck, prosperity and symbolic purification. The celebration is accompanied by performances, religious ceremonies and dragon boat races on the Lancang River – the most spectacular moment of the festival. In many cities, parades and evening shows over the water also round out the program.

Phaung Daw Oo – procession on water on Inle Lake

Not all Asian water festivals involve dousing each other. The Phaung Daw Oo Festival in Myanmar is usually held in late September and early October on Inle Lake. During the festival, decorated barges carry images of Buddha, and the festivities are accompanied by traditional boat races. Here, the water becomes the path of procession and the space of ritual, rather than the basis of street partying.

Loy Krathong – thousands of lights on the water

In Thailand, an important water-related holiday is Loy Krathong, celebrated during the full moon of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, usually in November. Its hallmark is small rafts made of leaves, flowers, candles and incense, and floated on rivers, canals and ponds. It’s a gesture of gratitude to the water, a symbolic farewell to worries and a request for prosperity. In the evening, rivers and bodies of water turn into shimmering sheets full of lights. The strength of this holiday is precisely the peaceful, almost contemplative atmosphere.

Boryeong Mud Festival – mud, water and summer spectacle

Not all water festivals are related to purification or religion. The Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea is usually held in late July and early August at Daecheon Beach. It’s primarily known for its mud, but without water it wouldn’t have its character: participants enjoy mud baths, slides, pools and outdoor competitions. It’s a festival focused primarily on summer entertainment and spectacle.

Timkat – the Ethiopian festival of water and renewal

Although we most often associate water festivals with Asia, related events also take place in other parts of the world. One of them is Ethiopia’s Timkat, commemorating Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River. The main celebration falls on January 19, and an important part of it is the blessing of water and sprinkling of the faithful with it. It is a festival with a distinctly religious character, in which water becomes a sign of renewal, community and a symbolic beginning.

Water Festival in Vilagarcía de Arousa – Spanish street fun

A European example of a water festival in a more entertaining guise is the Water Festival in Vilagarcía de Arousa in Galicia, Spain. It is held to honor St. Roch, and culminates on August 16. Thousands of people take to the streets, with locals and firefighters dousing them with water from buckets and hoses. Although the holiday is part of the local religious calendar, its most spectacular part today is in the form of a huge street party.

Sant Magí – Catalan festival of water and traditions from Tarragona

Water doesn’t always have to pour in streams from guns or buckets to become the heroine of a major festival. In Spain’s Catalonia, specifically Tarragona, the Festes de Sant Magí, one of the city’s most important summer festivals in which water plays a central role, takes place every August.

The highlight of the celebration is the Arribada de l’Aigua, the ceremonial arrival of holy water from the Sant Magí de la Brufaganya shrine. According to legend, the water ejaculated from the rock through the hands of St. Magín in the 4th century, and for centuries has been considered extraordinary and even medicinal. Every year on August 18, horse-drawn carts and a group of Portants de l’Aigua travel tens of kilometers to bring it to Tarragona. It culminates at the Portal del Carro, where locals wait for bottles and clay jugs of the miraculous water. There is no raucous party or spectacular grandeur – instead there is ritual, gratitude and a sense of abiding tradition.