Yesterday, April 17th, 2022, the Advanced Education Program of Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry held a ceremony to welcome the new year Bunpimay 2022, with many meaningful activities for more than 40 Laos students, Vietnamese students and other international students at the Advanced Program such as Philippines, Germany, Pakistan, Indonesia, Timor-Este,...

The ceremony opened with a lively art program with powerful vocals from Angel and Ronicca (K49), Giang A Hieu (K52) and Tran Lan Huong (K51). They delivered a very impressive opening.

The program has "fully recreated" the traditional solemn ceremonies of Laos. Beginning with the ceremony of peace - praying and thread - tying, a unique cultural feature of the Lao people, a large calyx is placed in the center of the stage and small threads are attached to the branches of the calyx. Everyone sat around the calyx to pray for good luck, then tied the thread on their friend's wrists and gived best wishes to each other.

The next ceremony is pouring water into the hands of the teachers and elders presenting at the ceremony. The students lined up neatly, taking turns to pour water on the teacher's hand and asked for blessing.

After that, the Lao students introduced about Laos' art and culture - Lam Vong dance. For the Lao people, festivals or happy days in the family and community are indispensable for the Lam Vong dance. The Laotian folk dance is a joyful form of collective activities, with the effect of aesthetic education and connecting the friendship between ethnic groups.

In addition, contributing to the success of the cultural program, it is impossible not to mention the warm voice of Mr. Ryan - a master's student with a DAAD full scholarship.

The most exciting part of the event is the water - splashing festival. According to Lao people's conception, only water can bring vitality and wash away all sorrows and diseases. Lao people also think that during the New Year, whoever gets wet a lot will have a lot of luck. Last night, no matter how strange or familiar, everyone showed their appreciation by splashing water on each other to celebrate the new year. All the students and guests had an extremely fun and memorable time.

In addition, the festival's food court also contributes to the transmission of Lao culture by recreating Lao New Year specialties such as Lap, beer,...

Sending New Year greetings to Lao students, Ms. Ly Thi Thuy Duong, Director of Advanced Education Programs at TUAF emphasized, the Advanced Education Program organized this ceremony to contribute to the cohesion sustainability between Vietnam and Laos as well as want international students to be able to understand each other better through the culture of each country.