It’s that time of year again! For a lot of us…the 3rd time we celebrate, each year (hello Western 2018 and Chinese/Lunar 4716). Inarguably, I believe it’s also the one we hold dearest to our hearts: HAPPY LAO NEW YEAR!

For the folks keeping record or the folks just curious–our year is 2561. The Western Calendar aka Gregorian Calendar aka Christian calendar, puts us at 2018. We’re over 500 years ahead–543 years, to be exact. I’m not sure if any of us has ever reflected on the implications of that. How many civilizations in history created calendars and realized the importance of having one? How many created…and kept theirs relevant vs just adopting another?

Regardless, below is a collection of all the flyers we were able to get hold of via social media. So, for the start of 2561–get out and enjoy yourself at one or several new year celebrations–LAO-STYLE.

Just remember one very important thing: While we are there to celebrate and we Lao really.know.how.to.celebrate. – please remember the location these celebrations are occurring in. Most celebrations are being held at a local Wat. So, it’s a Wat…a Buddhist temple. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen someone lying drunk in the temple with their feet facing the altar. So celebrate–but a little respect isn’t too much to ask for, right?

Without further ado, the amazingly bright, informative, and super-Lao flyers:

FRANCE: Saint-Jean-le-Blanc

GERMANY: Nuernberg, Schoenborn

UNITED STATES

ARIZONA: Phoenix

CALIFORNIA: Berkeley, Carmichael, Elverta, Mountain View, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Rosa, Merced

COLORADO: West Minster

FLORIDA

GEORGIA & TENNESSEE: Decatur, Riverdale, Lithonia, Snellville, Conley, Alto, Dr. Baldwin, Murfreesboro

MASSACHUSETTS: Lowell

NORTH CAROLINA: High Point

OREGON: Portland

OHIO: Columbus

PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia, York Springs

TEXAS: Fort Worth, Schertz

UTAH: Ogden, Salt Lake City

VIRGINIA

WASHINGTON STATE: Seattle

There you have it! Some of just a touch of all the events happening around the world for our Lao New Year festivities! We hope to see more flyers like this, year on year. Huge shout out to Georgia/Tennessee for some amazing planning and coordination to put it all in one flyer! Next up–share all your after photos and anything that particularly stood out to you!

Special thanks to A.Ou for all your help on this!