January 1 - national holiday
January 6 - Pathet Lao Day; national holiday with parades
in the capital, Vientiane
January 20 - Day of the Army; national holiday
January or February - Chinese and Vietnamese New Year;
it is celebrated principally by the Chinese and Vietnamese minorities,
but cause for many shops to be closed. The celebration is flexible
in date as it is determined by the lunar calendar.
January - Boun Pha Vet; commemoration of the incarnation
of King Vessanthara as Buddha; flexible in date as it is determined
by the lunar calendar.
February - Magha Puja; Buddhist holiday, flexible in date
as it is determined by the lunar calendar.
March 8 - Women's Day; national holiday with parades.
March 22 - Day of the People's Party; national holiday
March - Boun Khoun Khao; thanksgiving celebration, flexible
in date as it is determined by the lunar calendar.
April - Boun Pimai; traditional Laotian New Year, equalling
Songkran in Thailand; the celebrations last for three days during
which citizens douse each other liberally with water; exact date
determined by the lunar calendar.
May 1- Labour Day; national holiday with parades in Vientiane.
May - Boun Bang Fai; equal to the rocket festival in Northeast
Thailand; bamboo rockets are fired at the sky; it is believed
this will bring about much-needed rain; exact date determined
by the lunar calendar.
June 1 - Children's Day; national holiday
June or July - Khao Pansa; beginning of the Buddhist Lent;
the exact date depends on the lunar calendar. The day is preferred
by Laotians and Buddhist men of neighbouring countries for becoming
monks, mostly on a temporary basis.
August 13 - Lao Issara, Day of the Free Laos; national
holiday
August - Ho Khao Padap Dinh; a kind of Laotian All-Saints-Day
in commemoration of the dead and ancestors; ; exact date determined
by the lunar calendar.
September - Bouk ok Pansa; the date of the final celebrations
of the Buddhist Lent; exact date determined by the lunar calendar.
October 12 - Day of Liberation from the French; national
holiday
December 2 - Independence Day; national holiday with military
parades
December - New-Year celebration of the Hmong, a strong
ethnic minority in Laos; ; exact date determined by the lunar
calendar.
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/laos/laos_holidays.htm
