Enshi Daughter's Day Tujia Daughter's Association

Festival details

Daughter's Day is a popular activity in Tujia areas in western Hunan. Daughter's Day and Daughter's Party, also called Da

Enshi Daughter's Day Tujia Daughter's Association

Festival details

Daughter's Day is a popular activity in Tujia areas in western Hunan. Daughter's Day and Daughter's Party, also called Daughter's Party or Tujia Valentine's Day, were once popular in some Tujia areas in western Hunan and Hubei. Daughter's Day is held on March 3rd, July 12th or August 15th every year.

"Daughter's Club" is one of the representative regional traditional festivals of Tujia nationality in Enshi, and it is a unique and novel festival culture, which is particularly dazzling because it shows the unique brilliance of China female culture. Generally, the days from the seventh day of the seventh lunar month to 12 are the traditional auspicious days of the "Daughter's Meeting", which was first popular in Enshi Lime Kiln and Dashantou, and has now developed into a national festival in the whole state.

Known as "Oriental Valentine's Day", Tujia "Daughter's Party" retains the legacy of ancient Ba people's original marriage customs, and is a way of love in remote Tujia villages. Contrary to feudal arranged marriage, it is a holiday activity spontaneously formed by Enshi Tujia youth in the process of pursuing free marriage with the main purpose of collective mate selection. Its main feature is to choose a spouse independently through songs. At that time, mainly young girls, but also married women will attend, looking for suitable people or dating old lovers in the form of duets, and complaining freely.

Festival activities

When attending their daughter's party, young women wear holiday clothes and their most beautiful clothes. They are used to wearing long ones inside and short ones outside. One is shorter than the other, and people can see it layer by layer, called "bright passbook" or commonly known as "three drops of water", wearing their best gold and silver jewelry.

On the day of the daughter's party, the girls put mountain products, a local product brought back in a basket, on both sides of the street, while they sat down firmly on the basket, waiting for the right person to buy things. With a basket on his shoulder, the young man accosted the girl like a casual wanderer. The two sides talked harmoniously and had the same opportunity, so they went to the jungle outside the street to catch up with the "Daughter's Club" and exchanged heart songs in the form of female questions and male answers, thus making a lifelong commitment.

Festival history

According to legend, the Tujia "Daughter Club" originated in the late Ming Dynasty, with a history of more than 400 years. During the reign of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (13), the practice of "returning to the native land" was implemented and the "daughters' association" was banned. After the Revolution of 1911, the "Daughter Club" became popular again. After the 1980s, Enshi held a grand daughter's party every year to show its national customs, making it a symbol of Enshi's national culture and an artistic spectacle that dazzled foreigners. Through the festive, prosperous, simple and elegant "Daughter's Club", people can feel the pulse and soul of truth, goodness and beauty of far Cubans and see the Tujia people's national spirit of pursuing happiness and being positive.