The three-day feast of the New Year in Burma (now Myanmar) is also known as the Water Festival because of the custom of throwing or squirting water on others. The festival has been a tradition for centuries. During the celebration, pots of clear water are offered to monks at monasteries to wash or sprinkle images of the Buddha. Everyone else gets drenched, as young men and women roam the streets dousing everybody with buckets of water or turning hoses on them. The water-splashing custom originated with the idea that, through this ritual, the bad luck and sins of the old year were washed away. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary