Boat Racing Festival

Sabaidee!

First, I just want to come out and say I have failed at posting a picture every day, which was my goal a few weeks back. I have come to realize that the internet is sooooooo slow at my guest house, that it can take several hours to upload pictures/video if its acting pokie, so it just not feasible to post very often. I am actually at my office right now posting this next post because it has a video in it and it never actually downloaded last night even after I stayed up past my bedtime letting it load. So here it is!

Last weekend was Boun Suang Heua, or the Boat Racing Festival, which happens on the Day of the Commemoration of the Dead. The Lao traditionally observe Buddhist lent, which usually lasts three months from late July to late October, depending on the lunar calendar. During these months, Buddhists abstain from drinking alcohol, eating meat and smoking cigarettes to honour the months that the Buddha fasted under the Bodhi tree before reaching enlightenment. The end of lent is marked with celebrations and traditional boat racing in the nation’s many rivers.

To start off the weekend, we went to the PoP Construction Manager's house for breakfast on Saturday. We had a breakfast of champions consisting of eel, frog, chicken, rice, and of course, beer.

Breakfast lasted half the day, as everything is on "Lao time" - aka it starts at least an hour late and no one is in a rush. Coming from the North East where everything is go, go, go and prompt, this is a part of the Lao culture that is very frustrating to me.

Sunday was boat racing day.  It started first thing in the morning, probably about 6 am when the sun rises.  I was not a spectator at 6am, 8am, or 10am. I got to the Nam Khan river around 2pm, and the crowd and boats were going strong! Part of the reason I was so late was that I couldn't get to the river because of the crowds! I was actually told to leave because I had my bike with me and I wasn't allowed to walk it through the crowds (at least that's the gist I got when the policemen were laughing at me and shaking their heads when I tried to mime me walking my bike down the street).

The traditional racing boats are carved using one single tree. The boats belong to a village and are usually kept in a shelter on temple grounds and come out only once a year for the race. Several days before the race the boats are cleaned and presented with offerings because they are considered sacred items.  The boats can hold about 50 paddlers! They are SUPER long but only about as wide as a canoe.

The starting point is two kilometers upstream and the competition is between two boats at a time. The loser is eliminated. A lot of people bed on the different villages boats so this is a huge gambling day!

Starting line - a man on the top of the big boat will wave 2 flags to start the race

And they're off...

Everyone was sitting and standing all along the steep river banks even though there was no easy way to get down to the river. People were finding any possible way to see the race, and that meant a lot of the time sitting amidst the trash people were strewing about. One thing that was super disappointing was the lack of garbage cans. People would just throw their trash anywhere, and not even try to do it discretely. And then people were just sitting and walking in it - I couldn't bring myself to do the same and I stuck to the road.

Here is a short video of the boat racing!

While the boat racing has become a focus of entertainment, athletics and commerce, the Boat Festival is really an homage to water divinities and the Nagas, who are protector of the country.  However, I asked many people (coworkers, random people I talked to while watching) if there was any religious significance to the boat racing festival, and they did not know. This could have been a language barrier, or the historical meaning of the festival has been lost and the partying lives on, as has occurred with some US holidays as well.