What is the Shui nationality festival in Qiannan, Guizhou? What's the custom?

First, briefly introduce the aquarium. Shui nationality is a distinctive minority with profound cultural background. The characters created by the Shui nationality are one of the original characters created by the ethnic minorities in China. Some scholars believe that Shui characters are of the same origin as Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The total population of the Shui nationality is more than 400,000, mainly distributed in the upper reaches of Longjiang and Duliu rivers at the junction of Guizhou and Guangxi, as well as Sandu County, Libo, dushan county, Danzhai, Rongjiang and duyun city in Guizhou Province. They call themselves "Sui" and get their name because they originated in the Sui River basin, so there is a folk saying that "those who drink Sui water will become Sui people".

There are different festivals in different branches and regions of the aquarium, and Duanjie is the largest, most common and unique festival of the aquarium. "Duanjie" is equivalent to the Spring Festival of the Han nationality and is an annual festival of the Shui people. It is called "borrowing tail" or "borrowing melon" in water language. Based on the water calendar, Duanjie Festival lasts for 49 days from beginning to end, which is the longest delayed festival in the world. The water calendar is also divided into 12 months and four seasons, but September in the lunar calendar is the beginning of the year, and August in the lunar calendar is the end of the year, with twelve dates recorded. During the period from the end of1February to February of the following year in the water calendar, the aquarium in all regions and branches will choose the appropriate sea day or unitary day to celebrate the festival in batches. In Sandu and Libo, Guizhou, the aquarium will celebrate the festival in 7 batches (9 batches in ancient times).

On the morning of the festival, the Shui village is beaming. The villagers rang bronze drums under the command of their elders, and then went door to door in the village to pay New Year greetings and drink New Year's wine. Usually men and women sit at different tables, and men persuade each other at the same table, shouting "Xiubai! Xiubai! " (Water language, meaning "cheers! Cheers! " ) while women sitting at a table chat with each other and wish each other well. When the Shui people celebrate the festival, every family prepares abundant food to worship their ancestors and entertain guests, among which glutinous rice, pond fish and rice wine are essential.

Outdoor activities are also an important part of the festival, and the most common program is horse racing. Racecourse is called "end slope" or "rolling slope" in water language. People came out in droves after eating and drinking enough. The "broken slope" is crowded with people and people are buzzing. Horse racing is called "closing the horse" in water language, and the activity is conducted under the auspices of Zhai Lao, who sprinkles wine to worship heaven and announces the start of horse racing. Riders fly on horseback to whip, and whoever rushes to the top of the slope first is the hero in everyone's eyes.