A folktale of the Dai nationality relates to the origin of the Water-Splashing Festival. In ancient times, a ferocious and powerful demon in the Dai region took seven girls by force to be his wife. Having suffered enough from the prosecution, the seven girls decided to take concerted effort to revenge the demon.

Once they intoxicated the demon with wine and seduced him to disclose his Achilles’ heel. The demon admitted that despite his magic power, if one strand of his hairs was pulled off and twined around his neck, his head would be cut off. So the seven girls carefully did what he said and the head of the demon rolled down like a ball. However, his head began to burn at once and the fire spread quickly. One of the girls snatched the head and led the evil fire to herself while the other six girls kept splashing water on her body. After nine hundred and ninety-nine days, the evil was finally put out and people in the region began to live a peaceful life. From then on, the Dai people set the day when the fire was extinguished as the Water-Splashing Festival. During the three days of the festival, the entire Dai nationality region is filled with water and gaiety.