Bathing And Basking Festival

China and some parts of Tibet celebrate "Bathing and Basking Festival" around mid-July. Traditionally, this festival is on the 6th day of the 6th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. This festival is largely originates from the climatic conditions of the region; during this time of the year, the weather is very hot and rainy season sets in. Everything tends to get mould and rots easily. To avoid this, people wash clothes, linen, bedding, and dry other stuff out in the sun. From Imperial Palaces to houses, cities to villages it is a custom to wash and let things bask in the Sun.

Bathing And Basking Festival 2023

Sun , 23rd Jul 2023

This day is also called “Basking Scriptures Festival”. On this Sunny day, all the imperial records, archives and files or collected works are put out in the courtyard to dry in the Sun and air.

Temples such as the White Cloud Temple (Daoist) and Good Fruit Temple (Buddhist) in Beijing hold “Basking Scriptures Fair” on this Basking day, they display all their canons out to be dried in the sun, to keep the books away from the moisture and insects. All the commercial establishments that sell fur and other goods, painting and calligraphy artworks, traditional medicines, dry their goods in the Sun.

Common people in villages and cities would dry their clothing, sheets and bedding in their courtyard or garden, they refer to this day as “Basking Clothes Festival”.

Bathing festival similar to a holy snan- dip in the local rivers of a region. According to the Tibetan Legend, bathing in the river during this period is highly beneficial to health. The water in all the local water bodies at this time will be sweet, cool, soft, light, clear, beneficial to throat and skin. To utilise this goodness of the water, they celebrate Bathing Festival.