Festivals, etiquette, sacrificial food and customs The Dai people generally believe in Theravada Buddhism, and many festivals are related to Buddhist activities.

The Water-Splashing Festival, held in June of the Dai calendar every year, is the grandest festival. At that time, Buddhists are worshiped, a feast is held, monks, relatives and friends are entertained, and congratulations are exchanged by splashing water.

During the Water Splashing Festival, in addition to abundant wine and food, there are also many Dai-style snacks.

For example, there is a kind of glutinous rice cake, which is made of glutinous rice pounded into a ball and stuffed with perilla sugar. It is wrapped in banana leaves with wax oil and can be baked softly over fire or fried before being dipped in honey.

BaSi is made by mixing rice flour into particles with water, steaming it, pounding it into a ball, and rolling it into a thin and large round cake. After it is cold, it is folded into stacks. When eaten, it is boiled until soft and put into a bowl, and sprinkled with various seasonings.

Water-splashed glutinous rice cake is made of glutinous rice flour, rolled into a ball, wrapped in brown sugar, steamed, then coated with a layer of fried pea noodles, and wrapped in banana leaves to serve as a snack for guests.

There are also crispy snacks made from fried glutinous rice paste.

The more important festivals include the Close-Door Festival (July 15th in the Dai calendar) and the Open-Door Festival (December 15th in the Dai calendar), both of which are Theravada Buddhist festivals.

The Dai people in Xinping, Yuanjiang, Jinggu and Jinping celebrate the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, etc. The content and activities are generally the same as those of the local Han people. The more typical foods include dog meat soup pot, dried pork, pickled eggs, dried eels, etc.

Dai people's festival in Xishuangbanna. When a family builds a house, the whole village comes to help. When a new house is completed, the young man goes upstairs first, carrying a cow's head and singing blessing songs. The middle-aged men carry boxes and married women hold quilts.

, the girls came up one by one with the food, then set up tripods on the fire pit, set the tables, prepared wine and dishes, sang songs to celebrate the new house, and the villagers also gave the host some gifts that symbolized good luck.

"Putting out braised chicken" is a rumored way of courting love among young men and women in Xishuangbanna. That is, the girl takes the braised chicken to the market and sells it. If the buyer happens to be the girl's crush, the girl will take the initiative to take out the stool and let the girl sell it.

He sat next to him, and through conversation, if both parties agreed, they would carry chickens and stools to the woods to express their love to each other; if the buyer was not the girl's favorite, the girl would double the asking price; another example would be "eating snacks".

Wine, when a man and a woman get engaged, the man goes to the woman's house to treat guests with wine and food. After the guests have dispersed, the man, accompanied by three male companions, and the woman and her three female companions set a table for a meal.

"Eating wine" means eating three dishes: the first dish should be hot; the second dish should be salty; and the third dish should be sweet, which means there will be a wedding at both parties' homes on the wedding day.

Most of them are held at the bride's house first. During the wedding banquet, the banquet table is covered with green banana leaves, and the dishes include Xuewang (Baiwang), which symbolizes auspiciousness, rice cakes and various dishes. Before the banquet, the bride and groom perform a thread-tying ceremony.

That is, the officiant wraps a white thread around the shoulders of both parties, and ties two white threads to the wrists of the groom and the bride respectively, symbolizing purity. Then the elderly man shapes the glutinous rice into a triangle, dips it in salt, and places it in the fire pond.

On the top of the tripod, let it fall off naturally after being burned, symbolizing that love is as solid as iron. After passing the door, the bride and the groom should sit on a bench, eat glutinous rice mixed with four eggs, and drink two cups.

Wine; when a Dai bride by the Yuanjiang River passes through the house, the groom will give each bride-to-be 4 slices of meat, 4 ribs, 4 meatballs, and 4 pieces of crispy meat before having the main meal.