Hundreds of thousands of people in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province participate in the Water Splashing Festival which falls on April 11-13 this year. The festival is in celebration of the New Year in the Dai people's calendar. During the festival, the Dai people, wearing colorful costumes, carry clean water first to the temples to wash the Buddha and then splash each other with water. It is a way of washing away the old year and ushering in the new.

A woman is drenched in the Water Splashing Festival celebrations in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture in Yunnan on April 11, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]