Menghai today celebrated their new year with one of the best community rituals I've seen: the water festival. We weren't entirely sure what to expect and now wear borrowed clothes (and shoes) from a friend. Even though I took off my boots after the first attack, they will take days to dry. Being a foreign guest a hotel was no security from an ambush that left me soaked but with a bucket which I then put to use! Later I was invited into the very pickup that drenched me, and we spent the afternoon driving through the town between water fillups, slashing water down and across at victims and enemies (on this journey husband and wife left their camera in the hotel room). So no video except a short clip of what happened to me when I tried to get revenge on the marauders from across the street. I realized then water hitting my face could actually hurt like a punch.
At one point a small army of adolescents in yellow shirts came through with pickups and water guns, and later, in our own pickup, we faced off with an actual army transports with tarps and troops standing in knee high water hurling buckets down on everyone they came across. Only the elderly are spared in these intense encounter. Next year we will bring a waterproof diving camera to capture the full intensity!
An enjoyable but tiring day. Needless to say we slept well that night.
Briefly, there is a story behind this ritual (which spreads across much of south-east asia), but it varies region to region. Here there is the tale that a period of drought in ancient times was caused by a powerful wizard who had so much fire in his head it drove the clouds away. His compassionate daughters cut his head off, which burned at such a high temperate that they had to continually pour water on it...
The video below is of me getting my head cooled...
