What are the traditional festivals in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County?

The traditional festivals in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County include:

1. New Year's Day

On New Year's Eve, they make it a point to drink a bowl of porridge for each person, which means good weather and a good harvest. . There is also a custom of "scooping water": girls rush to scoop water, and it is most auspicious to see the well water foaming.

During the New Year, it is popular among the Dong compatriots to "beat the same year." This activity is similar to the "group worship" of the Han people. When the team of "beating the same age" arrives at a place, the women there line up and ask each other various questions in the form of singing, and the other party has to answer quickly, just like the antiphon in the movie "Liu Sanjie", Singing and harmonizing is very interesting.

2. Fireworks Festival

The annual Fireworks Festival of the Dong people is held on different dates in different places. Taking Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County as an example, it falls on the third day of the first lunar month (lunar calendar, the same below), Meilin falls on the second day of February, Fulu falls on the third day of March, but Linxi falls on October 26th. The fireworks are divided into first, second and third fireworks. Each of the fireworks is tied with an iron ring symbolizing happiness and wrapped with red and green threads. When it is set off, the gunpowder iron cannon is used as the momentum to rush the iron ring into the sky. When the hoop falls, people will target the hoop and swarm over it, which is called "grabbing the fireworks." According to popular legend, whoever grabs the fireworks will be prosperous in wealth, happiness and health this year. Therefore, when grabbing fireworks, everyone is brave and strives to be the first, determined to win the fireworks and bring glory to the village. There is no time limit for grabbing the fireworks. Whoever can deliver the fireworks to the podium first will be the winner. After the fireworks competition, various entertainment activities began. The reed team plays reed on the reed field; the old people fight with thrushes under the trees and have fun with each other; young girls and young men take this opportunity to sing and fall in love. The Dong village is filled with a joyful festive atmosphere.

3. Rushing to the commune

The Dong family has the habit of rushing to the commune. The commune is not held in the village, but in the wild, such as Changmuping or Tianbali, as the commune site. Every year on Society Day, men, women, old and young come from all directions to attend the society. Children watch the fun, adults buy things and exchange agricultural and sideline products. The girls and young men put on new clothes. The girls wore various silver ornaments, embroidered aprons and braided belts, and carried embroidered purses containing sour fish, sour meat and glutinous rice. They were in groups of three or five, with springy faces, and invited young people to have lunch in the community. The younger generation buys candies for girls. Those who met for the first time fell in love with each other, while those who had known each other for a long time rekindled old friendships and agreed on a time to meet next time. In the evening, the young man invited the girl to the village as a guest to have a communal meal. After the meal, the young men and women went into the singing hall to sing in antiphony. Nowadays, going to the club has become a festival for young men and women to socialize, and the club has become a place to establish love.

4. Bullfighting Festival

Every year on the second day of the second month and the eighth day of the lunar calendar. The Dong people like bullfighting, and each village has a "Buffalo King" specially used for competitions. The pen of the "Cow King" is mostly built near the Drum Tower, which is clean and ventilated and is called the "Cow Palace". The Ox King has dedicated people to cut grass, carry water and mix ingredients to serve him, and he also regularly provides honey, lard, rice wine and other food. The "Ox King" is huge and strong, with oil all over his body, and his horns are thick and sharp, like open steel forks.

Before the festival, young people play the Lusheng and go to other villages to "send appointments" and invite opponents. After "sending the promise", they went to the "Cow Palace" to play the Lusheng and worship for three days to "nurture the heart" of the cow. As soon as the festival comes, the crowd gathers around the bullring, and the participating "Bull King" begins to "step on the field" with the accompaniment of reed pipes: the young man holds a "horse card" with "Bull King" written on it and walks forward, holding his head high and chest high, " "Bull" is full of energy. The "horse sign" was followed by the guards and drum corps holding wooden "weapons". The horns of the "Ox King" are inlaid with bright iron sheaths, and their heads are covered with red satin. They carry the "Double Dragons Robbery for Treasures" Ox King Tower on their backs. There are four flags and two long pheasant feathers on the tower, just like the ancient ones. Like a general. There is a string of copper bells hanging on the cow's neck, hanging on the chest, making a loud sound. After the "stepping on the field" is over, the Bull King exits. Three iron cannons roared, and the official bullfight began. The cowherd threw the two lit fires in front of his "Bull King", and at the same time let go of the reins in his hands. The two cows rushed towards each other, and the crowd beat gongs and cheered. The losing side's colorful flags must be allowed to be "snatched" by the winning side's girls. The victorious "Ox King" was dressed in red and colorful and entered the venue again to receive cheers. If the fight is inextricable, the cow's hind legs should be tied with a brown rope, pulled apart, and the cows shake hands to make peace. A few days later, the girl from the winning side went to return the colorful flag from the losing side. The young man from the losing side hosted a banquet, sang "big songs" with her, and gave gifts to "redemption flags". Which village's "Bull King" can win is the glory of the whole village, so after the bullfight there is a mass singing, dancing and feasting to celebrate. In recent years, the "Cow King" of the Dong ethnic group in Guizhou Province has also gone to some big cities to perform gladiatorial battles, making this special entertainment culture even more famous.

5. Sowing Festival

The Dong people who live on the border between Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou hold a traditional Sowing Festival every third day of the third lunar month.

Due to different people’s hobbies, the content and methods of activities in each village are also different. Some villages set off fireworks on this day; some play the Lusheng and sit in the singing hall; some visit relatives and invite guests. And the most interesting thing is "Dancing Spring Cow". Then the farming team will perform grain farming activities. The entire performance venue was treated as a field, and several people playing farmers carried rakes, hoes, and bamboo baskets on their backs. They moved the fields, plowed the fields, transplanted rice seedlings, and harvested them with lifelike and graceful movements. They used songs and dances to express the joyful atmosphere of Dong people's field farming.

6. Girls' Day

The ethnic minorities on the border of Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi celebrate the "Girls' Day" on April 8th of the lunar calendar. According to legend, this custom comes from the Yang surname of the Dong ethnic group.

On this day every year, married girls must return to their parents' homes to celebrate the festival with their sisters and sisters-in-law. At that time, the sisters sang, laughed and made a kind of festival food together - black rice glutinous rice cake. When they go back to their husband's house, they also bring a lot of black rice glutinous rice cakes to share with relatives and friends, so as to make up for the loneliness of the young men on "Girls' Day". Eating black rice (also called black rice) on April 8th is an ancient custom. It is said to commemorate the Dong heroine Yang Bamei. Wu rice is made by soaking the leaves with black pulp in water, dyeing the "glutinous rice" which is a specialty of the Dong area black, and steaming it.

7. Taste the New Festival

"On June 6th, the early crops are ripe." Dong people regard this day as a festival for trying new things, and some places choose an auspicious day to try new things.

On the Hunan Channel New Tasting Festival, dogs are the honored guests. New rice is cooked and only the dogs can taste it after they have tasted it. Because it is said that in ancient times, there was a flood and all the grains were wiped out. A white divine dog traveled across the ocean and rolled in the Valley of the Queen Mother of the West. It was covered with sticky grains. When it came back, the grains on its body were covered with water. After washing it off, only the tip of the dog's tail sticking out of the water carried a few grains. Humanity has developed to this day by relying on these few grains of grain. In order not to forget the contribution of dogs, dogs are invited to taste the new grains first. The Festival of Tasting New Things is a unique festival in the Dong area, and the contents of the Festival of Tasting New Things are similar in different places.

In Liping County, the "New Festival" is called "Tiankuang Festival", commonly known as June 6th. Many Dong villages make rice dumplings on this day, also known as the Zongba Festival. In particular, the Dong people in Zhaoxing, Cenba, Long'e, Shuikou, Donglang, and Xinping townships celebrate the festival with a particularly grand ceremony, second only to the Chinese New Year.

8. Song Festival

The 20th day of the seventh lunar month is a grand festival for the Dong people in the Gaoba area of ??Jianhe County, Guizhou Province - the Song Festival. On this day, the girls and boys got ready, made appointments with their friends, and rushed to the Gaobei singing venue in twos and threes. Prior to this, young people usually finished their farm work in advance, and at the same time actively collected, rewritten or newly compiled a large number of folk songs or love songs so that they could compete with the strong players in the same song. At noon, the green grass slope at Gaobazhaitou, the center of the singing party, turned into a sea of ??people singing. Pan songs, love songs, and folk songs with unique tunes come and go. Young men and women use the song to find new and old friends, express their feelings, talk about everything, or alternately sing intoxicating love songs until dawn the next day. Many young people have become happy partners through singing parties. Legend has it that the Gaoba Song Festival was established to commemorate a Dong female singer who was loyal to love.

9. Winter Festival

It is also the "Winter Solstice". On this day, people in all Dong areas celebrate the Dong New Year, which is equivalent to the Spring Festival. There are lively activities in various regions, including Lusheng competitions. , Duoye, Dong opera, antiphonal singing and other colorful activities, friends who are unable to go home to celebrate the Dong New Year in Nanning, Guangxi, many Dong compatriots in Nanning will gather together to sing and communicate on the "Winter Solstice" every year.