The Origin of Water-Sprinkling Festival

Water-sprinkling festival (Po Shui Jie in Chinese) is an important festival in Dai ethnic group.The origin of the water-sprinkling festival is as following.Once upon a time,there was a cruel devil who did nothing but burn,kill and rob everywhere.People hated him very much,but no one could kill him.The devil robbed 11 girls for his wives,but he was still not satisfied.

One day he robbed another beautiful and clever girl for his wife.The girl hated the devil very much,but she pretended to be friendly with him.One night,she,making the devil happy,and asked him and knew the secret that he could be strangled by his hair.So,at the midnight,while the devil was asleep,the girl quietly pulled out one of his hair and put a stranglehold on his neck.In an instant,the devil’s head fell to the ground.(https://www.daowen.com)

Unfortunately where the devil’s head rolled,the fire breaks out.Later,it was found that only the devil’s wives holding the devil’s head could pause the fire.To avoid disaster,the devil’s wives took turns holding the devil’s head,one wife holding the devil’s head for a day.People kept sprinkling water on the devil’s wives,so they eliminated the disaster by the devil.