Zhuang Festival

The Spring Festival is the most descending festival. After a sumptuous dinner on the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, people gather around the fire to observe the New Year. As soon as the Zi Hour arrives, people immediately burn incense and light candles, and offer sacrifices such as pork, whole chickens, dumplings, dumplings, rice wine and other offerings on the altar of the gods. The children set off firecrackers. There are many places of the Zhuang women immediately carrying buckets or bamboo tubes to the spring, the river to play "new water", for good luck. Men carry lanterns to the temple community to burn incense and paper. In some places, the gate is open, the family gathered in the yard towards the east to pay homage, blessing: "the East, a year of Wanli, this year is better than last year!"

On the first day of the first day of the year, most places Zhuang people are not strangers. People eat soup dumplings during the day, and only eat meat dishes for dinner, which is believed to eliminate disasters and diseases. There are many taboos on the first day. This day is forbidden to say unlucky words. Prohibited scissors, for fear of the new year, family members clever tongue, quarrels and curses; shall not sweep the floor, for fear of financial ruin. May not take things outside the dry bar, not to borrow things to others, for fear of family wealth outflow. Some places are prohibited to beat gongs and drums, for fear of disturbing the ghosts and gods, but some places can play a kind of high cowhide drums, around dozens of miles clearly audible. Many places from the first to the first five stove to burn a section of hardwood, can not be extinguished, said the descendants of long, smoke and fire. This day is also not allowed to kill, pigs, chickens and ducks must be cleaned up a few days before, in order to prepare for the sacrifice and food.

The Zhuang people do not bow, kneel, shake hands and other meeting rituals, but through language and rich expression to fully express their holiday greetings, people in the village or on the road to meet, they congratulate each other "congratulations on wealth."

From the second day of the month, friends and relatives begin to come and go to pay their respects. This is especially true for daughters who have gotten married. To bring a few pounds of meat or chickens and ducks and other gifts, with their husbands and children to return to their families to pay tribute to the New Year. Married sisters take advantage of this time to gather, *** to catch up on goodbye.

According to the usual concept, the entire first month belongs to the festival. Therefore, the Zhuang people in Wenshan, Yunnan Province, play brass drums and dance for a month. Others are in the beautiful scenery of the river, the valley, the youth held a song Wei or lion dance, playing pounding hall, listen to the Zhuang opera, and so on. Recreational activities are colorful and people are immersed in the festive atmosphere.

Ant-trapping Festival

This is an ancient festival circulating around Donglan and Fengshan along the Hongshui River. Every year from the first day of the first month of the year, after looking for ant-traffic, filial ant-traffic and accompanied by ant-traffic, ant-traffic burial of three stages, lasted for a month long. There are two stories about the ant crutch festival, one of which says that a long time ago the son ate the old man and killed the old mother to celebrate the New Year. Then came out a filial parents of Donglin, others to come to kill his parents, he grabbed the knife not to let. He also refused to eat the flesh of other people's parents. Later, his mother died. He used the coffin to decorate the coffin to keep the spirit. Outside the house ants do not care Donglin grief, wow wow screaming people upset. Donglin in a fit of pique, poured boiling water on the ants, who knew that caused great trouble. The earth broke the sound of frogs, the sun is red like fire, the drought is so dry that the earth is cracked. Later, Bluto and Mlojia said ant crutch is not a mortal thing, she is the sky of the heavenly Leiba's heavenly daughter, she called the genius of the day rain, must be given to her to accompany her, please ant crutch back to the village for the New Year, this is the ant crutch festival origin. Another story says, ant abduction is the son of the King of Thunder, was sent to earth as an angel, he called the King of Thunder to give rain on earth, so people are very grateful to him, dead mourning, such as honoring the mother of his parents. These legends, and ant crutch is the Zhuang totem related.

March 3

March 3 is the Qingming Festival, but also the Zhuang song festival. Being the Qingming Festival is influenced by the Han Chinese. However, there are also Zhuang people who have Qingming Festival in March 13, 14 and 26 to sweep the tomb, which is very different from the Han Chinese. The Zhuang people attach great importance to sweeping, when the whole family goes out, bringing five-color plates, meat, incense, candles, paper streamers to the ancestors' graves to make offerings and perform worship. Mountains and fields from time to time came the sound of firecrackers, a long time ceaselessly, the hillock, forest groves, white soul streamers in the top of the grave on the bamboo poles fluttering, resulting in a mysterious and solemn atmosphere. Zhuang customs, offerings must be eaten in the wild, there are places to throw away do not eat, superstition that, bring home will attract ghosts into the door.

Quite a few places at the same time as the cleaning, but also to hold a grand song Wei, is the March 3 Song Festival. In recent years, the people's government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has designated this day as a festival of the Zhuang people. 1984 in Nanning held the first Song Festival, more than 700 singers from various counties to perform on stage, so that the March of the Yongcheng into a sea of song and dance. Even foreign friends also traveled across the ocean to share the joy of the festival with the Zhuang people. During this period, often accompanied by sacrifices to the gods, such as the Bun Festival and other superstitious activities, but more attractive is to grab the firecrackers, theater, acrobatics, martial arts performances, dance colorful dragons, dance colorful phoenix, singing Caicha ring poetry and other colorful and rich cultural and entertainment activities, and in recent years also added a new play, movies, ball games and so on. But most of the attention of young men and women is not in this area, but in how to find a favorite partner through the song Wei.

Niu Soul Festival

Every year on the eighth day of the fourth month is the Niu Soul Festival, also known as the festival of the yoke. In the Zhuang people's consciousness, oxen are gods in heaven, not ordinary livestock in the mortal world. There is a story that it was born on the eighth of April in heaven, so this day is the Ox King Christmas, when the land because of the exposed rocks, loess can not be seen, dust and sand, seriously affecting the lives of mankind, the King of the Ox was ordered to come to the earth from the sky, sowing grass, the original is three steps to spread the grass seed, who knows that it made a mistake, but one step, even three spread, so that the weeds are overgrown, invasion of fields and harvests. Therefore, it was punished to stay on earth to eat grass. But heaven did not forget it, every year on the eighth day of the fourth month, the bull demon king will come down from the sky to the mortal world, bless the cattle do not plague death because it is for the cattle festival, this day people and cattle are stopped labor. The master uses maple leaf water to soak glutinous rice to steam rice, and then kneads a ball for the ox to eat. Outside the cattle pen, a small table is set up, offerings are placed, incense and candles are lit, and the ox is sacrificed to the king of the oxen. People also sing songs and colorful tunes to celebrate the ox's birthday.

Mo Yi King Festival

Every year on the second day of June is the Mo Yi King Festival, which honors Mo Yi, a Zhuang hero who dared to rebel against the feudal emperor. The Zhuang people on both sides of the Liujiang and Longjiang rivers worship him as their ancestor, and there is a shrine with his deity written on it. A small festival is held on June 2 every year, and a large festival is held in six years. The small festival is the family slaughtered chickens and ducks, burning incense for the sacrifice, begging him to bless the Zhuang family peace. The big sacrifice is very grand, to hold a grand ceremony in the Mo a big king temple. Two animals are used for the offering, i.e. a pig and a cow. The method of sacrifice is also very special, to use the meat, bones, liver, intestines and other parts of the pig and cow to make twelve dishes, not even one less. Twelve dishes can not be done at the same time, at the same time on the god, but every other time to send one, twelve complete, you can burn paper rituals, after the sacrifice, each dish according to the number of households in the village, one person from each household to participate in the meal, rituals into.

Midwinter Festival

July 14 to 16 is the Midwinter Festival, commonly known as the Ghost Festival. It is a big festival of the Zhuang people second only to the Spring Festival. From the seventh day of the seventh month, the festive atmosphere has already begun. July 7 is the day of the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, the Zhuang people by the influence of the Han people, but also sympathize with the rare meeting of the couple. But the Zhuang people also have another theory, that today is the day of fairy bathing, water to dye cloth, vinegar, cooking medicine, extraordinarily good, so every family at noon someone rushed to the river or mountain spring water. In some places, the first seven days of the year as a daughter of the festival, married daughters not only do not like the weaving girl across the magpie bridge in search of her husband, but also leave her husband's family to return to her mother's embrace.

After the seventh day of the month, people will do goods for the Mid-Yuan Festival, and are busy rushing to the pike to purchase incense and candles and ghost paper. When the festival arrives, every family kills chickens and ducks and pigs, a festive atmosphere. In some places, from the seventh day of the year onwards, fresh bamboo shoots are boiled in water to welcome the ancestors. On the 14th, the big festival starts, and the offering table is filled with pork, whole chickens, whole ducks, rice noodles, rice cakes, mochi, and glutinous rice, which are placed on the table until the 16th. Before each meal, you have to heat up the offerings first, sacrificed to the ancestors, to eat, under the offering table put a very large paper bag, which is stuffed with blue, white and purple paper cut into the ghost clothes and paper money. Each sacrifice are burned some, after burning, with banana leaves, calla lilies or lotus leaves wrapped in ashes, until the last burned on the 16th, wrapped together into two large packages, by an old man wearing a bamboo hat, with a bamboo stick picked to the river, placed in the water to let it sink and float. Some people also burn paper boats, paper horses and paper houses so that their ancestors can return home with a full load.

Frost Festival

The Frost Festival is a festival honoring Cen Yuyin, a heroine who fought against foreign invasion, and has a history of more than 360 years. The festival is popular in the areas of Ha Lei, Lei Ping and Bao Wei in Daxin County, but its influence extends to Tian et al, Jingxi and Debaos counties. In the early morning of the first day of the festival, people bring mochi, rice, meat, incense and candles to gather at the Yuyin Temple to offer sacrifices. In the Qing Dynasty, not only the people sacrifice, state officials must also wear official clothes, led by the crowd of worship offerings. 1949, although not held after the sacrifice. But the commemorative activities are still very enthusiastic, there are theater, there are singing songs, there are lion dances, and so on.

Taiwang Festival

Taiwang Festival of the Zhuang people is in the evening of the twentieth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Old people use the moon to predict the weather in the second half of the year. If the sky is clear and the moon is bright, the second half of the year will be smooth and rainy, and if the moon is covered by clouds, there will be a drought. The festival is also a fun time for singing. Young couples into the same song, can help each other song, that is, the wife can not sing each other, the husband at any time to help return the song, the husband can not sing each other, the wife can also be on the battlefield. Songs, men and women, each with a lead singer, the audience can participate in one of the side and sing along.

Sun Cloth Festival

Strong women on the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar, the self-weaving and self-dyeing cloth from the box cabinet out, in the sun deck to the field of Pangyongyang exhibition sun. After the girls have finished drying the cloth, they dress up carefully. The boys also put on new holiday clothes and walk around the villages in teams to find girls with more cloth, good quality and skillful craftsmanship. Folklore: the Zhuang God of Creation Bluto in this day, let the sun let out a strong light flame, sprinkle insecticide, this day, sunshine cloth, insects do not moth, do not mildew, do not fade.

Flower Dynasty Festival

The second day of the second month of the lunar calendar is the Flower Dynasty Festival of the Zhuang people. The festival is chosen to spend in the place where there are tall cottonwood trees. Young men and women gather from all directions. They wear ethnic dress, carrying colorful glutinous rice, mochi or dumplings and other food, bring for the lover and prepare the headscarf, a thousand needle bottom new shoes and other gifts, especially not less carefully embroidered embroidered ball. People gather in the green bushes in groups of three to five, singing songs, praise lovers, praise each other, even love, while singing the praises of the hundred flowers of the fairy's good clean, beautiful. When they are drunk with love, the embroidered balls fly to their beloveds. Sunset, people in accordance with traditional customs, from all around the embroidered ball to the high branches of the kapok thrown, thrown, the kapok tree on the colorful ball tired, like a fairy neon skirt. People use this way to pray for the hundred flowers fairy blessing.

Danu Festival

The 26th to 29th day of the 5th lunar month. Starting from the 26th, families offer sacrifices to their ancestors. A vat of millet wine is made and sealed beside the incense burner, with the prayer stating that it is for Miloada, and three taels of jute must be included in the offering. Late at night, the housewife quietly wrapped dumplings, not to be seen, cooked before calling the family to eat. Twenty-seventh, the old man fighting birds. Twenty-eight days to kill pigs and slaughter sheep, friends and relatives from near and far to each other, banging brass drums, singing songs. On the 29th, men and women from all the villages gathered together, picking meat and wine carrying copper drums on the top of the hill to set up a song field banquet. Men and women singing drums, middle-aged and old people drink and recite "laugh wine words", children burning firecrackers to learn to play the drums. There are also horse races, archery and so on.