The story
Sand Stupa Festival Luang Prabang in Luang Prabang
On Pi Mai's middle day, families cross to Don Xay Mong Khun, a sand island in the Mekong, to build and decorate miniature sand stupas as an act of merit-making. The custom is believed to repay a debt to the earth for a year of walking on it, and the small stupas are simply washed away by the river in the months that follow.
On one of the afternoons of Lao New Year, Luang Prabang's Pi Mai celebrations shift from the temples of the old town to a small island in the Mekong River known as Don Xay Mong Khun, or the Sand Island of Happiness, where families gather to build miniature stupas out of river sand.