Songkran (Lao)

Lao New Year, called Songkran (Lao: ສົງກຣານ, [sǒŋkràːn]) or Pii Mai (Lao: ປີໃໝ່, [pìːmāi]), is celebrated every year from April 14 to April 16.

History

Lao New Year is a popular English name for a traditional celebration known in Laos as "Pi Mai" (in Lao language). Lao New Year is the most widely celebrated festival in Laos. The festival is also celebrated by the Lao in the United States of America, Canada, France, and Australia. Lao New Year takes place in April, the hottest time of the year in Laos, which is also the start of the monsoon season. Lao New Year or Songkran takes place at roughly the same time as the new year celebrations of many countries in South Asia like India, Sri Lanka (Puthandu) and Southeast Asia.

Festival dates

The official festival lasts for three days from April 14 to April 16 (although celebrations can last more than a week in towns like Luang Prabang). The first day is the last day of the old year. Houses and villages are properly cleaned on the first day. Perfume, water and flowers are also prepared for the Lao New Year. The second day of the festival is the "day of no day", a day that falls in neither the old year or the new year. The last day of the festival marks the start of the new year.

New Year

New Year is the time at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. The New Year of the Gregorian calendar, today mostly in use, falls on 1 January (New Year's Day), as was the case both in the old Roman calendar (at least after about 713 BCE) and in the Julian calendar that succeeded it. The order of months was January to December in the Old Roman calendar during the reign of King Numa Pompilius in about 700 BCE, according to Plutarch and Macrobius, and has been in continuous use since that time. Many countries, such as the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the United States, mark 1 January as a national holiday.

During the Middle Ages in western Europe, while the Julian calendar was still in use, authorities moved New Year's Day variously, depending upon locale, to one of several other days, among them: 1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 September, and 25 December. These New Year's Day changes generally reverted to using January 1 before or during the various local adoptions of the Gregorian calendar, beginning in 1582. The change from March 25 – Lady Day, one of the four quarter days – to January 1 took place in Scotland in 1600, before the ascension of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603 and well before the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. In England and Wales (and in all British dominions, including Britain's American colonies), 1751 began on March 25 and lasted 282 days, and 1752 began on January 1. For more information about the changeover from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar and the effect on the dating of historical events etc., see Old Style and New Style dates.

New Year (film)

New Year (Chinese: 過年) is a black-and-white Chinese animation made in 1924 by Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan.

History

It is a cartoon short produced under the "Shanghai Tobacco Company" (上海菸草公司). The clip was an advertisement. It is very likely that the company was actually the British American Tobacco Company given the time frame and location.

See also

References

External links

New Year (A Silent Film EP)

New Year is an EP by British alternative band A Silent Film, released on April 21, 2015 .

Track listing

Personnel

A Silent Film

References