Laos’s traditional New Year festival, celebrated with water festivities similar to Songkran, is called Pi Mai.
Pi Mai, also known as Lao New Year, is Laos’s principal traditional annual celebration. It normally occurs in April and combines family gatherings, temple visits, merit-making, and friendly water play.
Water is used symbolically to cleanse Buddha images, homes, and people before the new year. In Luang Prabang, celebrations have distinctive religious and cultural processions, including the ceremonial washing of important Buddha images.
Pi Mai is related to the wider South and Southeast Asian solar New Year tradition, but it is not simply another name for Songkran. Songkran is the Thai term, Thingyan is used in Myanmar, and Chol Chnam Thmey is the Khmer festival in Cambodia.