The Origin of Kakarwa Festival

"Kakchowo" means "New Year" in Dulong language.

The Kachowa is a festival for the Dulong people, who make their living by hunting, to celebrate the return of their catches, to celebrate their victories and to pray for a good year ahead.

The Dulong Kakchaw Festival has been passed down in all the Dulong villages in the Dulong River valley in the western part of the Dulong River Autonomous County of Gongshan, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The Kachwa Festival is the New Year of the Dulong ethnic group in the Dulong River area, there is no fixed date, generally by the village elders in the last month of the year to choose an auspicious date, usually held at the end of the lunar month or the beginning of the first month of the following year, the festival period of the shortest three days, the longest nine days.

The festival is of great value in exploring the cultural development of the Dulong people, especially in grasping the origins of the Dulong calendar and its history of change; secondly, the festival preserves the way of information dissemination through woodcuts, which is a precious sample for researching the social organization of the unwritten ethnic groups. In addition, the festival is also an important carrier for the Dulong to systematically integrate and pass on their traditional culture, which demonstrates the Dulong's concept of reverence for nature and their desire to achieve success in life.