Why do Dong people celebrate Ubud Day?

Author: Li Long Photography: Yang Shaoquan

On the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, Dong people eat "black rice", also called "black rice". Every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, Dong women surnamed Yang go up the mountain to pick leaves to make "black rice" (called Yang Congyang Kaye), dye sticky rice with the pulp made of leaves and steam it to eat. So why do Dong people eat "black rice" and celebrate the Black Rice Festival? Legend has it that this rural custom is to commemorate an ancient heroine, Yang Bamei. Yang Bamei, whose real name is Song Dynasty, was born smart and literate. She was the leader of Dong nationality with her brother Yang, and she was a hero who resisted the oppression of the imperial court in Feishan Zhai. One day, Yang was captured by the imperial court and detained in Nello, Longcheng, to force Dong 'a people to surrender. If this Dong doesn't surrender, he will be beheaded. How to rescue Yang? Everyone is in a hurry. Yang Bamei put on her makeup and went to visit the prison. When she saw her brother wearing a locked cangue and a pair of chains on his feet, he was also very thin. She asked him gently, "Brother, do you still have the strength before?" Wen Guang said, "I'm still here, but I can't move, because I'm tied here. I have never had a full meal in prison, so I can't understand it. " Eight elder sisters said, "I want you to eat enough. Where there is strength, there is a way. Just wait! " Eight younger sisters went back to discuss with her good epigenetic Yang Ka. Yangka saw that the leaves left in the field could be used as black water, so she had an idea. He and Bamei ran to the mountain and picked a hundred kinds of leaves, all of which were tasted by themselves. Finally, they found two kinds of non-toxic leaves and steamed glutinous rice with them, which were black and shiny, delicious and nourishing. Yang Bamei had the black rice steamed and put it in a bamboo tube. On the eighth day of April, she sent it to Wenguang. She paid off the jailer, who let her in. In prison, prisoners who have not been tortured will rob them when they see food. The eight sisters said to them, "My brother Yang is a hero. Now that he has been sentenced to death, the meal is poisoned. If you can't eat, let him have a full meal and be a dead fool! " Then she said something to her brother that the prisoner couldn't understand. Seeing that the rice was black, the prisoners were afraid that it was really poisonous, and they all retreated knowing that the condemned man was a hero Yang. Yang ate two bamboo tubes of black rice and recovered his strength. When he worked hard, he broke free from the shackles. Sister Ba and all the prisoners helped him break free from the shackles. Brother and sister took out the willow treasure knife (a kind of steel knife that can be rolled up) hidden in a bamboo tube and rushed out of the prison, fighting out of Inner Mongolia. Eight elder sisters shot roaring arrows at the head of Neiluo City, and the ambush outside the city also heard the news. They attacked from inside and outside, which greatly destroyed Liuzhou city and rescued prisoners such as Yang and others. Since then, the story of Yang Bamei saving her brother in Liuzhou has spread all over Dong township. On the eighth day of April every year, Dong girls cook black rice to commemorate their heroic ancestors, and name the two leaves that make black rice as Yangka. On this day, the girls also said a kind of "slang" that they didn't understand. It is said that Yang Bamei and her brother talked about Liuzhou in prison. (Editor: Li Jinze)