Festivals of
       the Miao     
Peoples                  

Sisters Festival
Is a courtship ritual started long ago on the 15th day of the third lunar month, when unmarried women gathered together by the river to celebrated the "coming of age", spring and "good harvest". They cooked and and dyed the rice blue, pink, yellow, and white to represent spring, summer, fall and winter.

The young women then place some of the rice in small bundles of cloth as young men arrive and begin to serenade them. Each young man singles out the woman he hopes to marry someday. Although he sings about his hunger and thirst, his real meaning is: "I love you, do you love me?"
The young woman responds to his song by giving him a drink of rice wine and some rice wrapped in cloth. Her official reply is inside. If she has placed a hot pepper there, it's a flat refusal. One chopstick signals a more polite "no-thank-you" to his love. A leaf inside his bundle means he must first give her satin. A piece of grass implies he must first supply her with a needle and thread. And with two chopsticks inside she will signal "I love you too". For those who have already "exchange two chopsticks" (married) at the river, the festival is also a time for married women to return to their parents' home. This is the only time that daughters see their parents and the one occasion that sisters sit down together all year. The rest of the days are spent with their husbands' families. Women arrive on foot laden with chickens, rice cakes and bolts of hand-woven cloth for their families. Their husbands remain at home.

New Rice Tasting Festival is another grand occasion of the Miao to enjoy newly ripe rice to welcome the coming harvest. It is practiced as well among the other minority nationalities. On this day, as soon as everyone in the village gather around, the village chief walks to the field, cuts three ears of rice and passes the to the local witch (shaman) for sacrificial rites. There is a belief in ancestors worship as well as a desire to give thanks for the virtues and power of the land spirit. Each family will enjoy a nice meal of new rice with fish and meat. During the festival, the villagers will hold a variety of activities, such as bullfighting, bird fighting, lusheng dance and antiphonal singing.

on the Miao People
on the Dong People
on China's minorities
of ChengYang

         
Dragon Boat Festival

Is one of the most important celebrations to the Miao people who live along the QingShui Jiang (River) in the southeast of GuiZhou Province. Every year between 30,000 to 40,000 Miao will take part in this festival. For the Miao, the dragon is the symbol for good. Girls like to adorn their hair
with silver ornaments shaped like dragons and wear clothes embroidered or woven with dragon patterns. The Miaos make exquisite dragon boats. The dragon's body consists of three parts, one large and two smaller ones that are tied together. The carved head, painted red, blue or yellow, is made from the trunk of a water willow tree. It is about two meters long and sports a pair of horns. The Miao Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated from the 24th to 27th of the fifth lunar month. But according to local customs, people are allowed to send their boats down the river after the 16th, provided that they have finished weeding their fields. The earlier appearance of the boats on the river is a testimony to the efficiency of the villagers. The diligent peasants consider it a shame not to finish weeding before the festival begins.

The GuZang (water buffalo offal) Fertility Festival one of the grandest festivals of the Miao nationality and has two purposes: 1 - is to commemorate the ancestors of the Miao nationality who had come here as pioneers from other places; 2 - is to celebrate the harvests of the past years. It takes place every 13 years, most recently in March 1992 at LangDe Village, TaiJiang County, when modern influences mixed with age-old customs. Festivals continue for three to seven days. On the first day, the elected committee in charge of the festival climbs the mountains to search for the soul of the dragon, a symbol of good luck. The shaman guides the dragon soul into a duck, which is bought specifically for this purpose. In the evening, a pig is ceremonially killed and shared among all participants during a great celebratory feast. In times past, a water buffalo would be scarified, but now pigs are killed instead. Sharing the meat symbolizes sharing in the community and the preservation of old traditions that are linked with the good fortune, prosperity and fertility of the whole village. During the festival period, all villagers indulge in eating, singing and dancing all day and all night long. This festival now is mostly celebrated in LeiShan County, TaiJiang County, and JianHe County.

NOTES: Miao festivals follow the lunar calendar (as do all minorities in China) and therefore vary from year to year in the Roman calendar.

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