Legend of Sikhodtabong ,Khammuance ,Laos

oulangkhathat -

Jewely of Mekong river

老挝新年传说

老挝新年传说
古代时 有一位富人的儿子名塔马班，是一位聪明伶俐 ，有知识，令老百姓尊敬
没有一个人能与塔马班比较，因为他还能精通鸟语，其他动物的语言
同时，有个神仙“卡宾拉泼”听到塔马班的名声和能力 就想与塔马班比赛，谁是最聪明和最有能力的人？
卡宾拉泼 要向塔马班提问 3个问题，并与塔马班提出条件 若塔马班能答对3个问题，卡宾拉泼愿意砍自己的头祭给塔马班，相反，若无能答 3个问题，塔马班将砍自己的头祭给 卡宾拉。这种较量是很残酷的，有一个非死 不可，2个老虎不能在同洞。
卡宾拉的 3个问题如下：

、
1.早晨 人的生肖在哪里?
2. 中午 人的生肖在哪里?.
3. 晚上 人的生肖在哪里?.
塔马班听到问题并没有马上回答，他向 卡宾拉泼延长的回答时间，7天后才给出答案。
卡宾拉泼答应就同意塔马班的请求。 第6天过去了 塔马班 还不能回答 3个问题，由于怕自己的头被砍头就离家出走，在逃走时在一个大树阴休息，听到了一队大冠鹫 交谈，“明天我们将有什么东西吃”母鸟问公鸟
明天我们将吃 塔马班的尸体，因为 塔马班不能回答卡宾拉泼的问题
“卡宾拉泼问什么，为何塔马班无能回答”，母鸟再问公鸟
公鸟说“早午晚，人的生肖在何处？”公鸟给母鸟回答此问题，
早晨人的生肖在脸，因此，人洗脸
中午人的生肖在胸，因此，人擦胸部或洗澡
晚上人的生肖在两脚，因此 人睡觉之前，要洗脚
塔马班听到了 马上回到家 并给卡宾拉泼的答案
卡宾拉泼 听到了答案 ，承认塔马班是答对的，卡宾拉泼临死前（被砍头前） 要求与自己的7个女儿见面，卡宾拉泼跟自己的女儿们说“我的头有威力，掉到土将发生大火灾，掉在天将发生旱灾，掉进海 将使大海干，于是请求女儿们接我的头送到遥远的山洞，每年的新年女儿们要轮流接头来洗， 好之后 带到原来的处放好。
因此，每年才有新年 或 泼水节
泼水节是自古以来的节日，每年4月13-15之间 按照老挝农历的计算法，由于老挝有各个民族不同，各个民族都有不太一样的习惯，但是一个同样是泼水，我们相信泼水可以给人洗掉不好的东西，新年到吉祥也到来，一般人们到寺庙向佛像泼洗，向和尚泼洗，表示会给自己带来的吉祥和健康，孩子要给父母和老前辈泼水，表示给他们的祝福，祝福他们身体健康和好运。 年轻人也互相泼水，我不认识你，你不认识我都不重要，最重要是新年到，大家用水互相泼，互相祝福等。

塔马班: Thammaban
卡宾拉泼: Gabinlaphom

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Chinese Qingming Festival or Tomb sweeping Festival,what about Lao people?

Do Lao people have the tomb sweeping festival?
Firstly,let's say about the Qingming festival in china,the Qingming is one of the most important festival for chinese people, it usually occures on the Appril 4th-6th earch year.the Qingming has been emerged in the history of china about 2500 years ago.
why is it so important?
Chinese never forget their ancestors. once a year to sweeping the tomp is necessary for anyone who are far way from their hometown and the tomb. the qingming day is the day that anyone who are far away from the ancestor's tomb have to come back to sacrifice to anccestors and sweeping the tomb or decorating the tomb. they prepare the fruits, food and many stuff for sacrifice.
as for lao culture and custom, we don't have the qing ming festival as chinese, the death people usually must be burned and take the bone ash to the temple according to buddism 's rule and then we put the bone ash into the stupa which we buit along the temple wall. We go to temple and offer the food to the monk ,those food will be sent our ancestors via the monks' words. we can sweeping or cleaning our ancestors' stupa every time when we reach the temple, but usually we do it on Lao new year or special day of buddhish .

The Qingming Festival (traditional Chinese: 清明節; simplified Chinese: 清明节; pinyin: Qīngmíngjié, or Ching Ming Festival in Hong Kong, Vietnamese language: Tết Thanh Minh), meaning Clear and Bright Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival on the 104th day after the winter solstice (or the 15th day from the Spring Equinox), usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar (see Chinese calendar). Every leap year, Qing Ming is on April 4. Astronomically, it is also a solar term (See Qingming). In solar terms, the Qingming festival is on the 1st day of the 5th solar term, which is also named Qingming. Its name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime (踏青 Tàqīng, "treading on the greenery"), and also to tend to the graves of departed ones.
Qingming is a statutory public holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It has long been a public holiday in the latter three jurisdictions, but became a public holiday in mainland China in 2008 for the first time since 1949.[1][2]
The transcription of the term Qingming may appear in a number of different forms, some of which are:
Qingming
Qing Ming
Qing Ming Jie
Ching Ming (official in Hong Kong[3])
Ching Ming Chieh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Festival

Many Lao people forget to celebrate the special day of Lao lunar calendar?

"Deun Sam Awk Nai sam Kham " Laotian Thankgiving day This is not Lao new year , but people called it as special day on Feb it depends on Laotian lunar calendar,I can't use English to explain it very well regarding the special day. this day is the best day of the year according to Laotian Lunar calendar , majority of Lao people celebrate it ,but this is not an official holiday in Laos . Many people in Vientiane capital city rarely celebrate this special day. The Basi ,we can place any foods ,especially the vegetables on it ( as photo above) and the white cotton strings , the cotton strings will be tying around wrists to give the lucks. My mother has set a very small Baci Shoukhuane which invited many neighbors and cousins to garter together and tying the strings to each other. on this occasion, we eat the chicken.... The colour white of the strings is meant for purity. The strings are comparable to greeting cards which are commonly used in Western cultures with written, happy or sad messages within. Our wishes are formulated orally and vary depending on the occasion whilst we tie the strings around the wrists. We usually tie three knots and the strings are to be worn for three days in order for the wishes to be effective. The ceremony of tying the strings around the wrists is called the “Basi” or “ Soukhouane” ceremony which is performed on different occasions such as weddings, new Year, house blessings, birthdays and farewells. source: http://www.laopress.com/news/eculture.htm