What is the Hmong Huashan Festival also known as? A Brief History of the Hmong Huashan Festival

The Flower Hill Festival, also known as Stomping on Flower Hill. It is a grand program for the Miao people living in southern Sichuan. The Flower Hill Festival is usually held in a gentle area. In the flower field, a bamboo pole or tree pole with a height of five or six feet is erected, which is the flower pole, and two pieces of red and black cloth are hung on the flower pole. Every year, the flower mountain hosts on the flower pole, so that people first know that there is a flower field, to the first day of the first month began to step on the flower mountain, the more grand flower mountain festival can be extended to the eighth, ninth. There are two different stories about the origin of Stomping on the Flower Hill, one says it was erected for the purpose of seeking a son, and the other says it is a memorial day. Regarding the origin of the Flower Hill Festival, there is a story circulating in the Miao folklore that once upon a time, the ancestors of the Miao people lived in the plains area, which had fertile land and flocks of cows and sheep.

The ruthless emperor was bent on occupying the territory of the Hmong, and sent imperial troops to attack the Hmong tribes, the Hmong king, Meng Ziyu, led his nine sons, eight girls and Hmong people, fighting with the imperial troops, and ultimately outnumbered, the Hmong failed, Meng Ziyu's nine sons, eight girls sacrificed in the battle, the Hmong ancestors had to move to the southwest of the mountains and steep ridges. Mengziyu erected the flower pole on the 16th day of the Lunar New Year, and held sacrificial ceremonies on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days of the first month to commemorate the sons and girls who sacrificed their lives in defense of their hometowns, and at the same time, they also performed martial arts shows, which have been passed down from generation to generation until now. Stomping on the flower mountain is a sports activity of the Miao people, but also the Miao people's life experience exchange activities, but also the Miao men and women young people's recreational activities.

During the Flower Mountain Festival, there are sports and cultural programs such as Lusheng dance, martial arts (i.e., Miao folk martial arts of stick, knife, gun, hook and sickle, three-jointed stick, chain armor, etc.), inverted climbing flower poles, bullfighting, horse racing, and so on. Stomping on the flower mountain this day, Ying Do (Miao language, young man) are wearing Miao clothing, shoulder reed-sheng, pants bag is also loaded with the beloved tuning xiao; Ying Cai (Miao language, little girls) are wearing their own hand-embroidered flowers and hand-embroidered dress and hand-pointed waxed flower pleated skirt, singing songs from the Miao Mountain from all corners of the flower mountain convergence to come up. The whole Flower Hill is full of people and joyful atmosphere. Outside the flower field, there are sugarcane everywhere, and the Hmong Yingdao who are ready to sing to each other have to pick the thick and big sugarcane, and give it to each other after Yingcai sings to each other.

If you want to sing a song, when you come to Yingcai, you will cover her with a flower umbrella and say, "My sister from afar, if you don't mind, let's sing a song". If Yingcai liked it, she would say, "Then sing!" If she didn't like it, she would say, "Thank you, Ah Brother, I don't know how to sing." Then Ying-do would have to find another partner. Between young men and women, through the song, if they are in love, both sides will give each other gifts to remember, and when the Huashan Festival is over, Yingcai will follow Yingduo. Then there is only waiting to drink the wedding wine.