Events / Festivals

January 01

International New Year; national holiday

January 06

Pathet Lao Day; national holiday with parades in the capital, Vientiane

January 20

Day of the Army; national holiday

January or
February

Chinese and Vietnamese New Year; it is celebrated principally by the Chinese and Vietnamese minorities, but cause for many shops to be closed. The celebration is flexible in date as it is determined by the lunar calendar.

January

Boun Pha Vet; commemoration of the incarnation of King Vessanthara as Buddha; flexible in date as it is determined by the lunar calendar.

February

Magha Puja; Buddhist holiday, flexible in date as it is determined by the lunar calendar.

March 08

Women's Day; national holiday with parades.

March 22

Day of the People's Party; national holiday

March

Boun Khoun Khao; Harvest festival in villages. A ceremony is performed giving thanks to the spirit of the land, flexible in date as it is determined by the lunar calendar.

April

Boun Pimai; traditional Laotian New Year, equalling Songkran in Thailand; the celebrations last for three days during which citizens douse each other liberally with water; exact date determined by the lunar calendar.

May 01

Labour Day; national holiday with parades in Vientiane.

May

Boun Bang Fai; equal to the rocket festival in Northeast Thailand; bamboo rockets are fired at the sky; it is believed this will bring about much-needed rain; exact date determined by the lunar calendar.

June 01

Children's Day; national holiday

June or July

Khao Pansa; beginning of the Buddhist Lent; the exact date depends on the lunar calendar. The day is preferred by Laotians and Buddhist men of neighbouring countries for becoming monks, mostly on a temporary basis.

August 13

Lao Issara, Day of the Free Laos; national holiday

August

Ho Khao Padap Dinh; a kind of Laotian All-Saints-Day in commemoration of the dead and ancestors; exact date determined by the lunar calendar.

September

Bouk Ok Pansa; the date of the final celebrations of the Buddhist Lent; exact date determined by the lunar calendar.

October 12

Day of Liberation FROM the French; national holiday

November

Boun That Luang; is a three-day religious festival celebrated at full moon in November. It begins with pre-dawn gathering of ten thousands of pilgrims FROM Laos and Thailand at That Luang who listen to prayers and sermons chanted by hundreds of monks representing all Lao vats. During the following days a fair is held nearby. The festival ends with a huge fireworks display.

December 02

Independence Day; national holiday with military parades

December

New-Year celebration of the Hmong, a strong ethnic minority in Laos; exact date determined by the lunar calendar.