What is the Lusheng Festival?

The Lusheng Festival is the most common festival in the Miao region. Lusheng Festival is a traditional festival of the Miao people in Qiandongnan, Guizhou Province, which is held around September 27th of the lunar calendar and lasts for a week. Legend has it that Zhuge Liang taught the Miao people how to make the Lusheng pipe, so they also call the Lusheng pipe the Kongming pipe. According to documents, as early as in the Tang Dynasty, the southwest region is widely popular in playing the reed-sheng, reed-sheng festival has a long history. During the festival, men wear short shirts and pants with lapel or right lapel, head wrapped with green cloth scarf, waist girded with big belt, holding lusheng, locking na, copper drums, flocking to the venue; girls wearing dresses and skirts embroidered with various colorful patterns and motifs, head wrapped with green handkerchiefs, waist girded with embroidered colorful belts, wearing silver ornaments, talking and laughing along with following, and people dance along with the music of lusheng. Since ancient times, the Miao people have been fond of blowing the reed-sheng, and are good at dancing with the reed-sheng. In many places in Southeast Guizhou, such as Kaili, Congjiang, Rongjiang and Huangping, the Lusheng Festival is very grand. Among them, the lusheng festivals in Zhouxi Township outside Kaili City and Gulong Dazhai in Huangping County are the grandest. Zhouxi Lusheng Festival is held from the 16th to the 21st day of the first month of the lunar calendar in the border area of four counties, including Kaili, Majiang, Leishan and Danzhai, and the Lusheng Hall is set up in Heshaba. On the 16th start "start hall", 17th assembly, 18th, 19th, 20th jumping lusheng, 19th increase horse racing activities, 20th also held bullfighting, 21st, lusheng will end, the Miao men and women young people to "travel party" activities. Lusheng will, nearby cities and counties dozens of kilometers around the people come to the meeting, a sea of people, sheng sound like a tide. People form a circle to dance with the reed-sheng, the young men hold long and short reed-shengs in the circle and dance while blowing them, and the girls dance to the rhythm of the sheng song. Huangping County Gulong Lusheng Festival is held from September 27th to 29th in the lunar calendar every year, with the lusheng field located on a gentle and wide hillside. People come from all directions, up to tens of thousands of people. The activities of the festival are not far from those of Zhouxi, and the scene of the thousands of lusheng playing together is very spectacular.