What does Cai Hua do?

Cai Hua is a traditional festival of Miao nationality with a long history, and it is also an important occasion for Miao young men and women to meet and fall in love. Every year from the third day to the sixth day of the first month, flower picking activities will be held.

On the morning of the festival, when the sun shone on the earth through the veil-like mist, all the villages in Miao Ling were boiling. People, old and young, all dressed in festive costumes, flocked to Huashan Stadium from all directions with joy. On Huashan Mountain, there are crowds, laughter, flowers and songs everywhere. Some people are busy looking for relatives and friends, some people are busy participating in various activities, some people are busy setting up stalls to do business, and girls and boys are busy looking for the right person. This is a festival of flowers and songs, a place to catch up and make friends, and the Garden of Eden of love and affection for young Miao men and women!

To pick the flower mountain, we must first choose the fields and flower poles. In the middle of the twelfth lunar month before the festival, the organizers of Huashan Festival should choose a turf slope and erect a flower pole in the center as the Huashan field. Flower stems are generally made of straight fir trees more than 30 meters long. Bark was scraped off, branches were trimmed, and a green crown was left at the top of the tree. About three meters from the top of the pole, there are long red, yellow, blue and green ribbons, lusheng, white wine, pig's head and other things, surrounded by green leaves of mountain flowers. On the first day, that is, the third day, the host prepared some wine and put it under the flower pole. Master Lusheng blew Lusheng first and jumped around the flower pole for three times. After the host finished praying, he announced the beginning of Huashan Festival. Artists in Huashan Field are smarter than skills and singers, and they enjoy any form of singing and dancing. Everyone around the flower pole carries out bullfighting, horse racing, knife playing, climbing the flower pole, dancing Lusheng dance, chain jumping and other activities, especially the boys' Lusheng dance, which won the favor of the onlookers and often re-entered the arena after the dance, showing a new look. After the dance, the boys picked up their umbrellas and went back and forth to find the right person.

In the past, Huashan Festival was organized by families without children. Later, in order to develop national culture, the government allocated a certain amount of special funds every year, and the local government and the host of Huashan Festival presided over the Huashan Festival ceremony.

During the Huashan Festival, there are many activities, such as bullfighting, horse racing, playing with knives, climbing flower poles, jumping lusheng and jumping chain mail. Every activity is exciting, exciting. The special flower pole climbing competition is people's favorite activity, and it is also an excellent opportunity for Miao boys to show their courage and skills. During the competition, boys are divided into individuals or groups of several people, and dance Lusheng dance first. They all play Lusheng and dance to the beat of the music, sometimes accompanied by difficult movements such as turning, rolling and jumping and various shapes. After that, one of them climbed a flower pole more than 30 meters high while playing the reed. At this time, the onlookers burst into warm cheers and applause, cheering for the pole climber, and the hearts of the girls even reached their throats. If the climber climbs to the top of the pole, he will untie the gift tied to the top of the pole and get off the pole. If he fails halfway, another boy will climb up. In this way, the scene is very warm and exciting. It is difficult to climb the slippery flower pole more than 30 meters high when playing Lusheng. Most boys ended in failure, only a few boys climbed up and got rid of enviable prizes such as white wine, pig's head and lusheng. People often give warm applause to the winners, and the winners often get the love of girls.

Various activities in Huashan Mountain Field provide opportunities for young men and women to get to know each other and fall in love, thus attracting many young men and women of Miao nationality. Every day when I first arrive in Huashan, girls like to get together in small groups, wear bright clothes, or look around or whisper to each other. However, the boys traveled around in groups of three and five, looking everywhere. The young man has a crush on a girl in the flower field. He can play Lusheng to woo her, ask her to dance Lusheng dance together, pick a bunch of mountain flowers for her, and even quietly put an umbrella on her back in a few days when she was unprepared to listen to music. If the girl accepts the mountain flower, it means that she also likes the young man, is willing to associate with him and falls in love with him. If a girl likes a young man, she can also take the initiative to ask him to sing duet and dance lusheng.

Once a boy chooses a girl, he quietly puts an umbrella on her back. The girl looked shy and pretended to leave. Actually, she was peeking at the young man. The girl is interested in the young man, and the song sung by the young man will be answered by the girl, singing words of mutual affection. So during the Huashan Festival, neither side sang with others. After singing for a few days, the deeper and deeper, the two sides hit it off, laying the foundation for future marriage. If the girl is not interested in the boy, no matter how the boy sings, the girl will not answer. Even if she did, it was only perfunctory. After singing three or two songs, she went her separate ways.

On Huashan Mountain, under hundreds of umbrellas, Miao girls and boys pour out their love affectionately, and some of them are married. If a girl and a young man meet and fall in love in Huashan field, and the two sides have friendship, the girl will give her embroidered waist, handkerchief, flowered skirt and other things to the young man for preservation. The young man gave his beloved lusheng and other things to the girl as a token. After that, they agreed on the time and place of the next meeting. After a period of love, the feelings between the two sides became deeper and deeper. One day, the young man went home with his beloved girl. At this time, the young man's parents can find a matchmaker to propose to his aunt.