Which nation's traditional festival is the Fruit Festival? The time and main activities of the fruit festival.

Which nation's traditional festival is the Fruit Festival?

"Guo Wang" is a transliteration in Tibetan, which means "going around the field". In Tibetan, "Wang" means agricultural day, "Guo" means turning around, and the festival of "Guo Wang" can be translated as "turning around on the edge of the field".

Guowang Festival is a festival for Tibetan farmers to celebrate the harvest, which is popular in Lhasa, Shigatse and Shannan in Xizang Autonomous Region. The time is between July and August in the Tibetan calendar every year, and the specific date changes with the change of agricultural time in various places. Generally, it is held two or three days after barley yellow ripening and before sickle harvesting. Therefore, the time arrangement of Guowang Festival is based on the township, which is decided collectively by the villagers according to the maturity of local crops.

Guowang Festival has a history of 1500 years. This is a traditional festival for Tibetan farmers to celebrate the harvest. Popular in Lhasa, Shigatse, Shannan and other places in Xizang Autonomous Region. The time is between July and August in the Tibetan calendar every year, and the specific date changes with the change of agricultural time in various places. Generally, it is held two or three days after barley yellow ripening and before sickle harvesting, and lasts for one to three days. Therefore, the time arrangement of Guowang Festival is based on the township, which is decided collectively by the villagers according to the maturity of local crops.

National Time and Main Activities of Fruit Festival

Guowang Festival has a history of 1500 years, and it is a traditional festival in people in Xizang that longs for a bumper harvest. "Guo Wang" is a transliteration in Tibetan, which means field and land, and "Guo" means turning around, which means "going around the field". In the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and the rural areas along the Lhasa River, the "fruit watching" festival is very popular, and there are festivals in other places, but the names of the festivals are different. Lahu and Dingri are called "Ji Ya", that is, comfortable summer days; Bubala Snow Mountain is surrounded by semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas, known as "Bangsang", that is, auspicious grassland. It's about the same time, before the crops are yellow and ready to open the sickle. Before liberation, Tibetans celebrated the Fruit Festival before the arrival of the "bird king"-the season when geese flew south. Guowang Festival is an important cultural phenomenon of Tibetan people, and its origin, ceremony, region or gender characteristics are rich and colorful.

According to legend, as early as the end of the 5th century, King Bud Gong Jian of Tibet asked religious leaders for advice to ensure a bumper harvest. The leader ordered the farmers to circle around the fields, with incense burners and banners as the leaders, while our leader held sticks wrapped around Hada and the sheep's right leg as the guide. After leading the villagers with highland barley ears or wheat ears around the fields several times, they planted all kinds of ears of grain in granaries and shrines, praying for good weather and abundant crops.

The fruit festival lasts for one to three days and is held on auspicious days before the autumn harvest. On this day every year, Tibetan people wear festive costumes, some carry colorful flags, some carry harvest towers made of highland barley and wheat ears, and the harvest towers are tied with white "Hada", holding slogans, some beat gongs and drums, sing songs and sing Tibetan operas, and some carry statues of Lord Mao around the field. After turning around, people were carrying tents and highland barley wine, talking about the past and present, and drinking while partying. The commercial department also organizes material exchanges, supplies commodities with ethnic characteristics and daily necessities, and purchases local products. After the fruit festival, the intense autumn harvest sowing began.

Customs of Tibetan Fruit Festival

parade

On the first morning of the festival, when the sun was shining all over the golden wheat fields, farmers walked around the fields with ears of wheat in their hands. At the front is an honor guard composed of lamas and old peasants, holding high the Buddha statue, holding scriptures and blowing the Buddha's name, thanking God for bringing people a good year. For the hard-working farmers, watching the crops that are about to be harvested and breathing the fragrance floating in the wheat fields, they are all delighted and intoxicated, singing the ancient harvest song.

Mass sports and recreational activities

After the wheat fields are turned over, as usual, mass entertainment and sports activities will be held in the square, including Tibetan opera, song and dance, horse racing, archery, tug of war, etc., which are very enthusiastic. On this day, every household should prepare enough wine and food, put on the most beautiful clothes, have a picnic on the grass around the square, or invite friends and relatives to hold a banquet in the village. Young men and women like to dance around the bonfire at night and sing and flirt until late at night. In some places, the fruit viewing festival lasts for three or four days, and the cultural and sports activities arranged are complicated or simple according to the length of the festival. Farmers who are far away from home live in makeshift tents at night and eat, drink and be merry before going home.

Characteristics of Gangdui Town, Gongga County, Shannan Province

In Tibet, I have participated in many fruit festivals, and I think the contents are similar, but the most interesting one is the fruit festival in Gangdui Town, Gongga County, Shannan Province. According to local customs, when watching the fruit festival turn to the fields to worship the gods, each family should send one person. Villagers will come from all directions to the open space next to the temple at the head of the village. Old people at this time are more beautiful than young people, because most of them are masters of singing and dancing. Usually, they dance before the festival celebration begins.

religious rites

The people who moved to the fields were all concentrated by the incense burner in front of the temple. At this time, "Lala" (the master of folk magic) usually begins the religious ceremony before the activity. Just before the departure, the villagers began to turn to the temple, simmer mulberry (burn incense) and hold a series of religious ceremonies in the order of the villages. The square in front of the temple looks solemn and lively. At this time, there will be villagers carrying highland barley wine and toasting people who have transferred to the fields one by one to show their good wishes and make the atmosphere look like the heroic soldiers before going out to war. People who like to drink will then take out a wine bowl from their skirts, and three cups will be allowed to pass. In front of the field-turning team, there are usually two village girls dressed as "rams" (that is, fairies) to show that the gods came down to celebrate the harvest. Women don't have the habit of carrying wine bowls, so they have to drink with their hands as bowls, which is also an interesting phenomenon in Tibetan wine culture.

A team that turns fields to worship the gods

The team that turned to the fields to offer sacrifices to the gods at the Fruit Festival finally set off in a mighty way. People shake colored arrows in their hands (to attract and pray for good luck) and walk outside the village like a long Youlong. There are more than 280 families in this village. Although only one person from each family participated in the field transfer, this team looks very spectacular. As people walked, they kept stopping and shouting: "Cha Guxiu ... Yang Jiaxiu ..." (that is, to make money and fortune). Farming is a circle around the village. Before turning to every farmland, we should simmer mulberry and burn incense and hold sacrificial activities. Women who are good at singing and dancing always sing and dance to express their joy after offering sacrifices to God, which is also one of the contents of offering sacrifices to God and expressing their happiness with God.

Holiday spirit

The place where the changing team passes must be a scene filled with mulberry smoke. At this time, no matter who works in the fields or does other things, they will stop what they are doing and shout to the field changing team: "Just ancient repair ... Central ancient repair ..." It seems that at this moment, the whole world is immersed in the festive atmosphere of making money and treasures. Women who love beauty should pick some rape flowers, wheat ears and buckwheat flowers from time to time. On the roadside, hold them in your hands with auspicious arrows to express the joy of harvest.

Sacrificial ceremony

According to the traditional custom, every time Tian Zhuan team goes to a township temple or a mountain temple, a sacrificial ceremony is held. Blessing and singing all the way, at this moment, the countryside is filled with a cheerful and peaceful atmosphere. Near dusk, the field-changing team returned to the edge of the village, but it was not over yet, and it had to turn around the village. At that time, we saw an old lady on the roof of a distant household, holding Baba in one hand and "Da Da" (auspicious arrow) in the other, shaking in the direction of Tian Zhuan team, indicating that she was lucky. According to the custom, at this time, everyone who has changed teams should be greeted by a person on the roof, which also means to welcome happiness.

Finally, the team returned to the starting point, next to the village temple, and held the last religious ceremony. At that time, drums and music were ringing, and in an extremely cheerful atmosphere, the one-day fruit festival ended successfully.