Inheritance Gratitude Love - Travelogue of Zhuang Hanapa Festival

Born, studied and worked in this city for decades, this is the first time I've heard of the word "Huapa Festival". Don't blame me, there is less publicity about ethnic cultures in the city, where we wear the title of ethnic minorities, live the life of Han Chinese, and are influenced by cultures from all over the world.

The third day of the third month of the lunar calendar is the biggest festival of our Zhuang people. Sacrificing ancestors, family reunions, meeting friends and making friends, almost all major events can be concentrated in this spring season. For this reason, all residents of Guangxi can get two extra days of vacation to go back home to reunite with their loved ones and take part in the festivities.

March 3, as the name suggests, is the festival on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. Because traditional festivals are celebrated more often in ethnic minority areas, generally these festivals can last from one day to a dozen days. In addition to the March 3 activities in Wuming District, Nanning City, Yongning District, the Flower Goddess Festival is also very grand. The culture of praying for blessings and thanksgiving for more than two hundred years has been passed down through various activities.

The Flower Goddess Festival is a traditional festival in some areas of the Zhuang people. Legend has it that the Flower King is the goddess of fertility and the guardian of children for the Zhuang people. And the first grandmother of the Zhuang people, Liu Jia, is said to have been born from the flowers, specializing in giving flowers to send children.

The flower woman in Pu Miao Town, Yongning District has another legend. Legend has it that in Pumiao Town, opposite the Five Sacred Palace of the pier, there is a kind and charitable grandmother often sells porridge to passing merchants, such as the poor people will be free to give porridge. After the grandmother passed away, the townspeople built a temple in her honor and held commemorative activities on the twelfth day of the third month of the lunar calendar every year, which gradually formed the local unique Flower Lady Festival.

The festival reminds people to do good deeds by giving alms as they walk along.

The most attractive part of the festival is the parade of flower women and drinking congee of flower women. This is the flower woman parade team before the "flower woman to send blessings" car, holding two bouquets of flowers "flower woman" half-sitting, in its left and right sides were suspended standing in the air children, boys holding lotus lamps, the girl is a hand with the flower woman congee bowls, a hand shaking the word "blessed" fan. The amiable Flower Lady doesn't mind the children having fun with her.

"Flower Lady Porridge" collects rice from every family and boils it carefully, and distributes it to passers-by on the day of Flower Lady Festival at several fixed locations. It is a symbol of collecting rice from hundreds of families, praying for the blessing of thousands of families and enjoying the feast of hundreds of families. There is a saying in Pu Miao, "Drinking Huapa congee, you will be blessed for the rest of your life", so the queue of people wanting to eat the congee is a hundred meters long, and no matter men, women, and children, they all want to drink a bowl of Huapa congee, and get the blessing of Huapa. A bowl of light Hanapa congee is full of warmth, satisfaction, health, gratitude, harmony, good luck, joy and good fortune. In this strong folkloric flavor of the Flora Festival, villagers, tourists porridge blessing **** enjoy.

The Banyin Strong Drum is also an important cultural showcase. The ethnic heritage of Pumiao is relatively complete and rich system. When it comes to our ancestral Banyin skills, it is estimated that most people do not know, I am no exception haha.

After finishing my steaming hot Hua Bo congee, I climbed straight up to the adjacent park for a panoramic view of the pier. The bronze statue of Goddess of Mercy standing on the hill for people to burn incense and pray for blessings. It is interesting to see that the residents here are very keen on a better life.

There is a synchronized display of related cultural contents in the Pojinshuyuan, with detailed introduction of the Bawuyin, Bawuyin playing costumes, photography exhibition, etc.

The Hundred Homes are located in the center of the park.

The Hundred Families Banquet was also the highlight of the day. This year, 168 tables of delicacies were arranged in Xinxing Square, inviting the general public, volunteers, community workers and cultural inheritors*** to enjoy the feast.

The evening code king competition, very lively. Guess the code, is also considered a specialty of Guangxi. Play is relatively simple, is a digital addition game, two people at the same time reach out and shout code (a person can only be out of a hand), one of them shouted in the two sides of the fingers of the two hands added to the number of wins.

The code of guessing has a lot of origins. For example, "three chicken", from that era when people buy three yellow chicken only three dollars a catty; for example, "four red dumplings", from ancient times with red meat, red beans, red glutinous rice, brown sugar made of dumplings, alluding to the four seasons of wealth, red hot, now Zhuangxiang dumplings have evolved into green bean dumplings; "six uncle Gong " comes from the story of Lu You's descendants (in the vernacular, six with Lu homophonic).

Folk culture is not a superstitious activity as some people think, but a kind of cultural inheritance, thanksgiving to ancestors, and education of love. In the context of realizing our Chinese dream, cultural folklore activities are more worthy of publicity, participation and attention, and worth protecting.

Next year's Flower Lady Festival, must be more interesting, about it?

JiaYi, a Zhuang woman who loves learning and traveling