Elephant Festival in Laos to Start Tomorrow

Sayaboury (Xayabuli) Province in the northwestern part of Laos will host the annual one-week-long Elephant festifaval between February, 20 and February, 27 this year.

The aim of the festival is to raise awareness of locals of environmental problems, logging and hunting that put the existence of wild elephants in Laos at risk. Yet for centuries these humble giants played an important role in the daily life of Lao people with deep relations between local Lao communities and the animals.

The program of the festival will festure a grand elephant procession of over a hundred animals followed by a traditional elephant Baci ceremony. There will be fruit and flower offerings as well as monks’ blessing ceremony. The culmination of the festival will be mahout and elephant show. Live performances of local and international music groups will add to the atmosphere of the festival and an abundance of food stalls and night market stalls will not let you die of hunger. An outdoor elephant museum will educate visitors on cultural traditions connected with domestication and breeding of elephant and a documentary film about life and habits of elephants will be shown on a large outdoor screen.

It is about 350 km from Vientiane to Xayaboury over route 4 and 120 km to Luang Prabang.

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Sayabouly Elephant Festival

As living icon with important symbolic connotations and historical association in Laos the elephants an animal dear to the heart of the Lao people.

The Elephant Festival is celebrated specifically in Xayabouly Province and is held to demonstrate culture and traditional ties between Lao communities and elephants, as well as drawing attention to the endangered status of this charismatic species.

The Elephant Festival is a free, all-ages event with activities including a majestic elephant procession with up to 100 elephants, a traditional elephant Baci ceremony, fruit and flower offerings, monks’ blessing, mahout and elephant show. In addition, there are live performance from Lao and foreign artist, a night market and outdoor elephant museum.

Visitors will have the opportunity to see documentary film on a large outdoor screen and enjoy live performance on the main stage or go for an elephant drive in the neighbouring forest.

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