Torch festival 12 14, august 2009

After harvest, when the new rice goes into grinary, it is time for black Miao celebrate their new year.This celebration lasts for 3-5days.

1st day is for killing pig, then they have meat to eat in the following, it is important for drinking ricewine, of course, all the ladies are dressing in their gorgeous and colorful festivel .

2nd day is for making and eating sticky rick cake, they trust sticky rice eating would drive away rats which would steal their rice.

3rd day is their real new year eve, poeple takes that day to worship the gods of rock,tree,door,pig’s house,and farming tool, and they put the red paper on all these kind of things for showing their respect. They believe all the things in the world has its own sipirit.

4th day is the first day of their new year, poeple get up very early, and firstly they cook for their ancetor, then they put the meat and vagetable and wine on the ground for their ancetor get it easily, then it is time for fun and going to see their relatives and friends, that day, you can see a lot of ladies carry a leg of pig on the road.

It is the Carnival to Miao people.
Miao people in Huangping area like to celebrate their harvesting by a ”Carnival”.

During that time, all the boys are cheking and reparing their Lusheng—a tradinal musical instrument to Miaos, all the girls there are busy making their tradinal costume which is full of embroidery work and silver ornement.

When the day comes, in Gulong middle school, it is real the sea of human, you can see about 50000 people are gathering there. then boys plays Lusheng for competing to each other, to see which one can produce the highest voice and the most beautiful melody. of course, boys also play it for attracting girls. gils are in the festivel costumes which is made by their own hand, they wear it also for attracting boys.

Then, one of the oldest entertainmeng for Miaos—-buffloe fighting, is really exciting to Miao people, you can see that their mind and emotion are totally occupied by it. Buffloe goes, horse comes, horse racing is other way for boys show their charming, something is strange here, they just bearly ride on the back of the horses, they don’t need stirrups and saddle, so a lot of the boys fall down of the horse and lost their charming accordingly.

The Shuis have a calendar of their own which takes the ninth lunar month as the beginning of a new year, and their biggest festival is the “Duan” holiday which is celebrated with great pomp after the autumn harvest between the ninth lunar month and the 11th lunar month every year. The Duan festival is the most important festival for shuis. Garbed in their colorful costumes, the Shuis gather in their village to watch horse races and plays, and to feast for days on end. Offering sacrifices to ancestor and horse race are the main activities of Duan festival. The more interesting thing is that the date of Duan festival is different in different clans and different village. So it usually last for three months.
The dish of fish enveloped by Chinese chives is necessary for the festival diet. And the fish symbolize the ancestor of Shui ethnic and blossoming for their clan.

According to legand, Shui people migrated into Guizhou under the lead of a holy pheonix. Then, for finding new land to live, Shui people kept moving into different directions, in memory of their origin and keeping their culture, different branches of Shui agreed on to meet every year, after the rice harvest and at a place called Sandong. Finally this agreement becomes Duan festival, the most important festival to Shuis. Duan means melon, symbolizes good life.

After long time cultivating, Shui people made this mountain area full of rice fields, it made other people jealous, this people wanted to drive all the Shui people away from this land, and occupy it themselves.

One year, when Shui people was holding their Duan festival, they bad people came, Shui people had to carry weapon to protect their land and themselves, finally, Shui people drove the invadors away, but so many young boys died in the war. later, for commemorating heroes, horse racing became the most important activity of the Duan festival, and that day, all kinds of meat beside fish are forbiden to eat.

Today, we can still see this festival at the place dated by Shui ancestors thousands years ago, and all the horses are racing from the the slope to the top of the hill.

Lusheng is so prevailed in Miao community in many aspects that they spend Lusheng festival across the province. Having busied with farming over the last year, villagers, temporarily escaped from burdens, wholly dedicate to the celebration for this festival. Stunning costumes with layers of silver lead quiet villages to be vivid and colorful through history seems stopped for them for years. People dance in circle all day long trying to show their vivid life and to be focused on.

There are many activities between autumn and next spring. Similarly to Han people, it covers offering sacrifice to ancestor, celebrating good harvest, having social party and courtship and bull fight.

There are many names for such festival, such as Tiaohua(Dance Flower).

Miao in the west and middle of Guizhou, calling themselves Hmong, name it Tiaohua. In some other place, it is called Tiaoyue. During the Dance Flower festival, courtship is particularly stressed on in that Tiaohua means to make friends through dancing and singing.

Called Lusheng Meeting in the southeast by Miao calling themselves Mu, this festival is fashion the areas: Leigong, Yueliang mountains and basins of Qingshui river.

Day 1 Guiyang-Shuitouzhai

Arrive Guiyang, then drive to Shuitouzhai, the buyi village in central Guizhou. Visit buyi village in valley with very beautiful scenery of River and terraced field. Visit tea plantation, taste the best quality tea. Stay at Indigo hotel, a nice little hotel with good situation.

Day 2 Shuitouzhai-Kaili

Visit tea plantation, taste the best quality tea. Then drive to Kaili, discover little flower miao, watch women dying indigo clothing and embroidering it with cross-stitch patterns.The hemp batik skirt is hightlight of this group.

Day 3 Kaili-Xijiang

Visit Shiqiao village, where Miao people make special paper by tree bark. For thousands of year Shiqiao village offer the paper for miao people in this rigion. Till nowaday you can see almost every village make different type of paper for decoration house, lantern.

Trip to Xijiang, the biggest Miao village in China, with more than a thousand traditional houses gathered on the steep slopes of a high mountain. Stay with a family in the Miao village, little trek to discover other villages around. Diner in a Miao home with traditional Miao food.

Day 4 Xijiang-Rongjiangi

Across over the Leigong mountain, the national reserve zone, enjoying her marvelous landscape. Discover short-skirt Miao’ s village, experience their welcome ceremony with wonderful costume.

The Torch Festival, which falls on June 24 - according to the Lunar Calendar of the Yi nationality — every year, is the most important traditional holiday of Yi people.
During the festival, people burn torches for three days and nights to drive away insects from eating crops.
Meanwhile, Yi villagers also sacrifice pigs and cows during memorial ceremonies for their ancestors. In the evening, they walk around their fields with torches, and gather around bonfires, singing, dancing and playing musical instruments.
Similar to Valentine’s Day, the Torch Festival also provides the opportunity for young people to select their “Mr. and Mrs. Right”.

According to the tradition, the man will send sweets to the “lady of his heart”. If the subject of his wooing takes a shine to him, she will eat the sweets and buy him a bottle of alcohol. Then the two people will go and hide in the nearby cornfields after dancing and singing.

Get more information about Yi

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Claude et Martine Bouclier

On july, 10th month of Shui calender, the most flourish time for green beings, people choose this time to celebrate Mao festival.
The most flourish time for green beings is also the time for all kinds of desease growing, this festival is just for Shui people to handle this problem.

This festival lasts for 3 days.
1st day is for cleaning rooms and roofs, and they also put a lot dried dust into rice fields, they believe it can kill poisoned insects in the fields.
2nd day is for clening their yard, then they carry out cooked food into the yard for wrshiping ancestors and gods.
3rd day is the valentine’s day for them, all the boys and girls wear new clothes to the hillslope nearby, singing songs to each other, and attracting boy or girl by singing, they do it from the day to the night.

It is a festival of health and love.