The Bun Huột Nặm festival was previously held annually by the Lào community in Mường Luân. However, due to the impact of wartime, the festival lost its most important ritual and gradually disappeared around 1976. Recently, the Mường Luân commune People’s Committee has decided to revive this festival, which is one of the most distinctive and culturally rich celebrations of the Lào people.

This year’s festival was held over two days, featuring both ceremonial and festive activities. The ceremony began with the bathing of Buddha, where locals would carry the Buddha statue to the Mã River and perform a ritual cleansing with fragrant water. After the statue was cleaned and returned to its sacred place, Lào people performed a worship ceremony to express gratitude to the gods and ancestors for the good weather, bountiful harvests, and good health.

After the ceremonial part, locals and visitors joined in various cultural and artistic activities rich in Lào people’s cultural identity. These included folk songs, the traditional “lăm vông” dance, and folk games such as Tó Má Lẹ, còn throwing (a game similar to shuttlecock tossing), “snake catches frog,” and “turtle laying eggs.”

The joyful and festive atmosphere unfolded at the foot of the ancient Mường Luân tower. Participants also took part in the traditional wrist-tying ritual to wish for good luck, and waded into the river to splash water on one another as a symbolic gesture of blessing and well-wishing.

Although it was the first year the Bun Huột Nặm Festival was revived, the two-day event attracted a large number of visitors from both the district and the province. For the Lào ethnic group, the water-splashing festival carries deep cultural significance. At the same time, it symbolizes the cleansing of misfortunes from the past year, and expresses wishes for good luck, peace, and happiness in the new one. It is also a way to pray for favorable rain and abundant harvests.