What are the national festivals of the Zhuang people?

What are the national festivals of the Zhuang ethnic group?

1. Bronze Drum Festival

A traditional festival of the Zhuang ethnic group in Aidong and Changle Township, Donglan County. They are held on the first, fifteenth and thirtieth days of the first lunar month each year. At that time, young men from each village form a bronze drum team, carry the bronze drum to the top of a mountain near the village, hang it on a wooden frame, beat the drum first to worship their ancestors, and then compete in the bronze drum beating competition. The method is to play the big drum against the big drum, and the small drum against the small drum, with four sides as one group, and 3 people per drum, playing in rotation without interruption. Win with loud and melodious playing, fast rhythm and long-lasting endurance. Competitions often last all night. At the same time, young men and women sang together in chorus. At the end of the competition, people had a picnic with rice dumplings and other food brought from home, and songs and laughter resounded throughout the valley.

2. Farm Tools Festival

Traditional folk festivals of the Zhuang people in Donglan, Nandan, Tian'e and other counties. Commonly known as Ant Festival. The festival lasts from the first to the thirtieth day of the first lunar month (in some places to the fifteenth day), and is held in large villages or jointly in several villages. There are "inviting frog ladies", "singing frog ladies", "filial piety frog ladies", Sacrificial rituals such as "Burying the Frog Woman". The entire festival is a celebration of the Frog God's achievements in bringing rain to the world and blessing harvests, and is a grand celebration of music and dance by the God of Music. People regard the first frog found on the first day of the Lunar New Year as sacred. The person who captures the frog is respected and supported, and becomes the leader who presides over the frog sacrifice ceremony that year. The modern Frog Festival has evolved into a mass entertainment festival and singing festival, so it is also known as the "Frog Festival".

3. Eat Lijie

Zhuang folk festivals in Longzhou County and Pingxiang City. "Chili" in Zhuang language means "celebrating" or "making up for the Spring Festival". According to legend, when the Spring Festival was approaching in 1894, French invaders invaded the border. In order to fight against the invaders, local young adults took up arms one after another to defend their homes, so they were unable to celebrate the Spring Festival on time. On the 30th day of the first lunar month, when the soldiers returned from the expedition in triumph, the villagers killed chickens and sheep, made glutinous rice cakes, entertained them warmly, celebrated their victory, and celebrated the Spring Festival, which became a custom. During the festival, people perform lion dances, dragon lanterns, sing and dance, making it very lively.

4. Hua Po Festival

A traditional festival of the Zhuang people. According to folklore, Liujia, the ancestor of the Zhuang people, was born from a flower. Later he was in charge of giving flowers and children. All people came to the world from the flowers in Liujia Garden, so they were worshiped as the God of Hua Po. The 29th day of the second lunar month is the birthday of God Hua Po. Zhuang women hold a sacrificial ceremony. Women of the same generation in the village become sisters with different surnames. They pool money to prepare chickens, ducks, incense and candles, and paper money to offer sacrifices to the Goddess Hua Po. Then they go out in groups to pick flowers and wear them to pray for fertility and the healthy growth of their children. . Women who have not given birth have to go to the wild to pick flowers and wear them on this day, in order to pray to God Hua Po to give them flowers and give birth to children. If you become pregnant in the future, in order to ensure that the child has a soul after birth, you must ask your master to go to the wild to chant sutras and ask for flowers. You must also perform a bridge-building ceremony in a ditch on the roadside to take the flowers from the bridge. After the child is born, the Hua Po Goddess should be placed on the maternal bed and worshiped regularly. This custom has now faded away.

5. March Three Song Festival

A traditional festival of the Zhuang people. Also known as March Song Fair. Guangxi is known as the "Sea of ??Songs". The Zhuang people hold regular folk song gatherings several times every year, among which the third day of the third lunar month is the grandest. On this day, every household makes five-color glutinous rice and dyes red eggs to celebrate the festival, which sometimes lasts for two or three days. Song festivals in various places have specific gathering venues. Generally, it is a sloping land. Some people built singing booths with bamboo and cloth to receive singers from other villages. The majority of participants are unmarried young men and women, and the elderly and children also come to have fun. Around the fairground, vendors gather and folk trade is active. In the larger song fair, tens of thousands of men, women and children from a radius of dozens of miles come to participate. There are huge crowds of people, singing one after another, and it is very lively. Famous song fairs include Panyang Riverside in Bama, Mianshan in Du'an, Qiaoye in Tianyang, Yangyan in Tiandong, Xiajian in Yishan, Yufeng Mountain in Liuzhou, etc. People go to the song fair to compete and enjoy songs; young men and women sing and make friends, and those who like each other give each other tokens as a token of their love. In addition, there are entertainment activities such as throwing embroidered balls, touching Easter eggs, and performing grand operas. The Song Festival is not only a grand gathering of national culture, but also a grand gathering of national economic exchanges. In order to carry forward the national culture, the People's Government of the Autonomous Region organized the "March 3" Song Festival in 1984. Singers from all over Guangxi gathered in Nanning. Brotherly ethnic groups across the country, compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao, and foreign friends also came to visit. The event was unprecedented. In 1985, the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region designated "March 3" as a cultural and arts festival.

6. Ox Soul Festival

A traditional festival for the Zhuang, Dong, Mulao, Gelao and other ethnic groups to worship the Ox God. Also known as Ox Birthday, Ox King Festival, and Unyoked Festival. It is mostly held on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month every year, but also on the eighth day of June or the eighth day of August. On that day, the farmers gave the cattle a day off, and every household renovated the cattle pens. The village elders commented highly on the cattle in the village and warned every family to take good care of their cattle. Every family steams five-color glutinous rice, wraps it in loquat leaves and feeds it to the cattle. In some places, offerings of wine, meat, melons and fruits are placed in the main room, and the parents lead an old cow to walk around the offerings and sing while walking to praise and reward the cow's merits. On this day, each family feeds the cattle first, and then the whole family eats the festival meal. Since the 1970s, the color of worshiping the cow god in the Ox King Festival has gradually faded, but the custom of worshiping and protecting cows still exists.

7. King’s Festival

Also known as Medicine Festival. Zhuang traditional festival. Legend has it that the King of Medicine is the god of medicine. He discovered medicinal herbs, treated people's diseases, and taught people the knowledge of growing, collecting and treating diseases.

In the past, every large village in the Zhuang area had a Yaowang temple. Every May during the Dragon Boat Festival, Yaowang was worshiped and medicines were collected to prevent diseases. For example, the Zhuang people in northern Guangxi go up the mountain to collect Chinese tallow trees, Tianjihuang, gourd tea, Yuanbaocao and other herbs to boil water for bathing. It is believed that this can make the skin smooth and prevent scabies. The Zhuang people in Jingxi County opened a medicine market on this day, specializing in various herbal medicines, and buyers were enthusiastic. It is said that the medicine of this day has special effects. In addition, each household also makes triangular rice dumplings, boils vinegar liquid in the house, burns grapefruit peels, and puts mugwort beside the door to drive away evil spirits and diseases.

8. Eating New Festival

Traditional festivals of Zhuang, Dong, Miao and other ethnic groups. Also known as the Qingqing Festival and the New Rice Festival. It is held every year in June of the lunar calendar, and the specific date varies from place to place. By then, the rice and corn have begun to mature, and people take some new rice to cook dry rice and add vegetables to celebrate the festival. If the rice is immature, pick the ears of rice from several plots in your home, squeeze the rice pulp and sprinkle it in the rice pot to show the new taste. In some places, new rice, wine and meat are also offered as offerings to the God of Agriculture. Some people use villages as units, gathering in the fields or hillsides to have feasts, sing and dance, and rest until the end of the day. It is said that the custom of this festival originated from people's worship of the God of Agriculture, and later gradually evolved into a general folk festival.

9. Mo Yiwang Festival

A traditional festival of the Zhuang people in northern Guangxi. Also known as the Five Grain Temple Festival. It is held every year on the second day of the sixth lunar month. Legend has it that this day is the birthday of King Mo Yi. Because of his contribution to saving the Zhuang people and blessing the harvest, the Zhuang people felt his kindness, so they built temples in front of the village and set up shrines at home to worship him. Small sacrifices are held every year to offer sacrifices to chickens, ducks, and pork; every six years there is a big sacrifice, and the whole village must raise funds to kill pigs and sheep. At that time, one person from each family will participate, and a grand ceremony will be held at the Moyiwang Temple. The leader of the village will preside over it and invite the Taoist priest to recite sutras and pray. According to the 12 months of the year, 12 dishes are made from different parts of the pig and cow meat, liver, intestines, bones and so on, and placed on the altar one by one. After all 12 dishes have been served, paper can be burned to salute. After the sacrifice, distribute each dish equally to everyone to taste. In the evening, entertainment activities such as antiphonal singing and opera are held.

10. Leibei Festival

A traditional festival of the Zhuang people in western Guangxi who call themselves "Bunong". In the Zhuang language, it is called "琦goudao", which means eating new grains and socializing with young men and women. It is held every year on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. Every household slaughters chickens and ducks, makes tofu, and steams new rice to offer sacrifices to ancestors, have a family feast, and feed rice to dogs and cats to show that they have not forgotten their hard work of guarding the house and catching rats. After dinner, young men and women put on new clothes and gathered on the ground next to the village to hold a back-pounding activity. Men and women tease and play with each other. You step on my feet and I beat your back. The elderly and children also came to watch and join in the fun, and the whole place was full of laughter. According to custom, if the man slaps the woman on the back first, it means that he likes the woman first; if the woman slaps the man on the back first, it means that the woman has fallen in love with the man; if both of them hit each other, it means that they love each other. So they chased each other out of the field and went to the village to sing songs, play wood leaves, express their love to each other, and give each other love gifts before parting to confirm their love relationship.

11. Taste the New Festival

Traditional folk festival of the Zhuang ethnic group. It is held every year during the seventh and eighth months of the lunar calendar when the new grains are ripe. Usually each family spends the day alone, but some invite nearby relatives and friends to gather together. On this day, every household uses new rice to cook rice, kills chickens and ducks to prepare pork, and offers sacrifices to ancestors and various gods to thank them for protecting the harvest. Women go to the fields early in the morning to cut back green rice leaves and offer them to the shrine. They also serve food and fruits, then burn incense and light oil lamps. When everything is ready, call the dog to the shrine, scoop out a big spoonful of new rice, add various dishes and feed it to the dog. After the dog is full, the whole family gathers around for dinner. Legend has it that the earliest grain seeds were brought by dogs. In order to thank the dogs for their contribution, they must be eaten first during the new festival.

12. Tiaolingtou Festival

A traditional folk festival custom of Zhuang and Han people in Qinzhou, southwest Guangxi. Also known as "Tiaolingtou". It is mostly held within ten days before and after the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in some places during the third or tenth month of the lunar calendar. It is the local festival second only to the Spring Festival. It is named because most of its activities are held on the edge of the village. At that time, every village will fish in the pond, and every household will slaughter ducks and hold banquets to worship ancestors and gods. At the same time, the "Lingtou Team" (Master) was also invited to perform dance festivals on the ridge near the village. The master wears a mask and performs "Pu Ji" (dance) and "Sing Ge" (song and dance); in some places, there are also martial arts and "Dou Fa" (folk magic) performances. The performance procedures include setting up the altar, inviting gods, confinement, singing and dancing, etc. All singing and dancing are accompanied by drums. It was recorded in "Qinzhou Chronicles" during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. Nowadays, it has evolved from the original religious ceremony to reward gods to folk entertainment activities.

13. The prime of life

The Zhuang New Year is one month earlier than the Spring Festival. Every year on the 29th or 30th day of the 11th lunar month, every household in the Zhuang villages kills pigs and sheep, worships their ancestors together, and joins the village to worship the community to welcome the new year. Starting from the first day of December, large-scale collective visits will be held between villages, where they will have drinks and banquets, sing and have fun; young men and women will carry out social activities, and young men will go to villages in groups to "make love". Choosing a mate through antiphonal singing. These activities last until around the seventh day of December. Regarding the origin of the prime of life, it is said that the king of She was originally an orphan. He grew up begging in Zhuang Township since he was a child. He was extremely powerful and could ward off evil spirits and cast down demons. Later, demons caused trouble, Zhuang Township was in trouble, and people fled in all directions. The King of She did not forget the kindness of raising the strong people, exorcised evil spirits and eliminated disasters, protected the fields and forts, so that the strong people could return to their homes and live and work in peace and contentment. When people were celebrating the harvest, King She was resting in his shed under a big tree by the village. It was the 30th day of the 11th month of the lunar calendar. Later, in order to commemorate the King of She, people designated the beginning of December as the New Year's Day, and built a shed to offer sacrifices to the King of She on the spot to pray for protection.