The Origin and Customs of Jinuo New Rice Festival

The happiest thing for farmers is a bumper harvest. It is their greatest comfort that the hard-working crops arrive in the harvest season. In order to celebrate the bumper harvest, Jinuo people specially hold a ceremony of "Eating New Rice", which is their New Rice Festival. Xinmi Festival, also known as "auspicious morning", is a traditional festival of Jinuo people and a part of Jinuo culture. Come with me now to learn about the origin and customs of the Jinuo New Rice Festival.

The Jinuo people's New Rice Festival has a long history. According to legend, a long time ago, the Jino people living in the mountains lived a primitive life dominated by hunting and gathering. One day, a dog came to Jinuozhai with a bag of grain seeds in his mouth. An old man saw the unusual origin of the dog, so he adopted it and scattered grain seeds in the mountains. After years of planting and breeding, there are more and more dry grains. Since then, Jinuo people have learned to grow dry valleys and eat rice.

There is no unified date for the New Rice Festival. Every year, within one month when the dry valley matures, every household chooses an auspicious day. On this day, the whole family, old and young, get up at dawn, clean up and prepare new rice and dishes. In the middle of the morning, my parents divided the vegetable rice into several portions according to their plots, went to the fields to worship the valley and have lunch, and didn't go home until sunset. Invite friends and family to have dinner in the evening to celebrate the debut of New Valley.

Joyful, also known as Axizao, is held in the Year of the Tiger in August and September of the lunar calendar. The main meaning is to celebrate the harvest, which is a traditional folk festival of Jinuo people. "Hope early" is a phonetic translation of Keno, which means "eating new rice" or "tasting new things". This festival coincides with the Year of the Tiger, and the rice is just ripe. Before the festival, male hosts gather in the homes or public houses of village elders "Zhuoba" (also known as "Old Huotou") and "Zhuosheng" (known as "Old Bodhisattva" in Chinese) to discuss festivals and sacrifices. At the beginning of the festival, the elders' families first offered sacrifices to the Valley God and tasted new rice, and each family began the next day.

The first step of offering sacrifices to the soul of the valley: a man carries a cage with several chickens in it, walks into the field, picks some flowers and puts them in the chicken cage, then takes out a thin box with silver bracelets and coins in it, and shakes and sings all the way, never looking back. When he reaches a poor crossroads, he will put a straw full of flowers in root cutting. When you get home, kill the chicken and the pig, and hang your head on the warehouse door. This is the "soul of offering sacrifices to the valley".

After offering sacrifices to the spirits of grains, they sent two men to their rice fields to pinch some mature and full ears of grains and come back to brew new rice. Cooking new rice in parents' room, the whole family gathered around the fireplace to observe which direction the steam in retort first came out. This is a primitive "divination". Steam flows eastward, indicating the prosperity of future generations; For the south, this bodes well for next year. To the west, hunting will win; Go north, children are not safe, people and animals are unlucky, so be more careful in the future.

After the new rice is cooked, a cooked chicken and a bowl of rice will be used to pay homage to the valley god, ancestors and blacksmiths. The priest will recite poems and pray for the happiness and well-being of the six animals. When each family tastes new food, they should invite their elders to eat it. Relatives should also be invited to taste new food, but they really can't come. The next day, the host will send a bag of new rice and a piece of chicken. "Good luck comes early" is basically a family holiday. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer sacrificial activities, mainly to celebrate the harvest.