How do the Qiang celebrate the Qiang Festival?

The Qiang New Year, also known as the Qiang Festival, is called "Rimei Jixiang" in the Qiang language, which means a festival of good fortune and celebration. It is also a traditional festival for the Qiang people to celebrate the harvest and reunion. Its connotation is similar to that of the Spring Festival in the Han area and the Tibetan Calendar Year in the Tibetan area. Qiang transition from "water and grass for food" to "mountain for home, stone for the house", that is, from nomadic transition to the farming nation, according to the ancient Sun Qiang October calendar and the Qiang "Shi Bi" of the According to the ancient Sunqiang October Calendar and the "Shibi" of the Qiang people, the first day of September is the Qiang Calendar, which is regarded as the grandest and most festive day of the nation. From spring plowing to fall harvest, the farmers who have worked hard for a year enter the busy farming season, and the oxen who have worked hard for a year are thus given a short freedom to be put on the mountains.

The grain went into the barn and the pigs and sheep into the pens, which was naturally a happy event. One by one, the migrant workers also returned home, and so the people began to celebrate the harvest with songs and dances. As the Qiang people believed in spirit worship and polytheism, the Qiang people who entered the agricultural society not only tied their destiny to the land, but also put their hope on the sky, hoping that the gods would bless the Qiang people with favorable weather and good luck every year. Therefore, the Qiang people will hold the ceremony of "offering to the sky to return their wishes" every year.

At the same time, in the long-term production and labor, the Qiang people have formed a special feeling for cattle. The Qiang people believe that a good harvest cannot be achieved without the help of the ox king, so some areas still retain the custom of 'ox king meeting'.

Strictly speaking, "sacrificing to the mountains" is a kind of parasitic behavior of the Qiang people, while the Qiang calendar year is a way for the Qiang people to express their good feelings.

So the mountain sacrifice is a kind of "spring prayer", and the Qiang calendar year is a kind of "autumn appreciation". It belongs to agricultural activities, which not only reflects the splendor of ancient Qiang traditional culture, but also shows the profound connotation of Qiang folk culture.