Guizhou has an unrivalled number of colourful minority festivals during the year. This makes it an exceptionally fascinating place to visit. These festivals range through the year. Many follow the lunar calendar so it is always wise to check with local agents who can advise you when and where the best festivals are and how you can reach them, as only the more well- known are listed in Guide books of the province.
At the beginning of the year in the low agricultural season the Miao ethnic group, especially in the southeast of the province take the opportunity to arrange a festival, where the young people can meet each other, dance, and find a marriage partner. A good meeting place is found and villagers from 200 km around arrive by public transport or, more often, by walking over the mountains. Their superb hand-embroidered costumes and silver crowns and jewellery are carried with them in bundles. Reaching the meeting place, often known as a lower ground? the girls dress, aided by their mothers in their traditional costumes, and further embellish their appearance with suburb silver crowns and necklaces. The boys arrive and dress in much more simple garb of trousers, jackets and turbans. Only in a few remote villages do men and boys wear traditional clothes. The boys bring with them lusheng pipes made of bamboo, made by specialised craftsmen. These are one of their most prized possessions. Soon village boys group in circles and play local lusheng melodies. The village girls form circles around them and perform a slow dance, showing off their costumes to the tunes of the pipes. Parents crowd around and admire their siblings. The women discuss the girls costumes and the embroidery with animation. Others crowd around the itinerant traders who have set up all manner of stalls, with, of course lots of games and toys for the accompanying children. Food vendors are soon busy selling the local favourite dishes, ranging from hot sweet potatoes, to roasted chestnuts, fruits and hot spiced noodles. Balloons and multicoloured windmills spin in the cool air. The tunes take on a faster note and the players perform acrobatics, rolling, turning and pretending to be cocks as they play the lusheng pipe. Later the young men and the girls select partners and the circles break up as the couples disappear into the night. The older generation enjoys feasts on the surrounding hillside or goes home to warm fires. Liaisons are made over the next few days as the festivals move from village to village. Each area has slightly different customs but long-term arrangements for marriage are often formed as, among the Miao, the boy chooses girl and only later do parents have to approve the formalised wedding arrangements.
During the festival season the older people, especially the men enjoy buffalo fighting. Many peasants lovingly ply their favourite water buffalo with food and drink to fatten and strengthen him. The buffaloes are then brought to a remote mountainous arena and crowds gather on the hillside to watch. Pairs of buffaloes are matched in turn and contests last for a set time. Winners are then put against other winners until a champion is found. Today a fight to death is not allowed, as was once the practise. The owner of the winning buffalo is greatly admired and respected.
Sometimes associated with the festival are local ground opera troupes, especially in the Anshun area. The participants dress in the costumes of the Ming Dynasty and enact tales of the Han soldiers who came to fight in the area.
The lusheng festivals, in the early part of the year, are usually to be found in the southeast of the province especially around Kaili and Guiyang. These festivals have been formalised and there are other activities organised by the local government such as costume competitions and sporting events. In the west, around Liuzi and Shuicheng area the Long Horned Miao and the Little Flower Miao have festivals in the remote mountains.
A similar festival centred on the boy meeting girl theme is found at Shidong near Taijiang, in the spring. The Shidong girls have stunning indigo dyed costumes embroidered with red silk motifs, and decorated with silver plaques and huge silver crowns. They parade to the lower ground in their costumes. Crowns tinkle and glitter as the girls circle around the boys, displaying their wealth. The government is now organising other traditional activities to such as Dragon Boat Racing to correspond with the festival. There is an opportunity to buy local crafts and embroidery.
Every thirteen years some villages, once again, have Guzang Festivals. This is an ancient tradition to re-establishing the villagers links with their ancestors. The festival is orchestrated by the Shaman and village elders for local people but sometimes it is possible to attend such a festival. All the families kill pigs for huge banquets. In the past buffaloes were slaughtered but today it is far too expensive. Travel organisations should be able to advise you when these rare events take place.
More formalised Song and Dance Costumed Festivals and Parades are being organised in Kaili, which is the capital of the Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture. A big show, inviting local and national minority stars, is put on outdoors around the 1st October. The show is televised and there is a competition to find the most attractive and talented minority girl. The winner prize is the opportunity to carry out all advertising promotions for the province for the rest of the year. There is a parade of all the minorities of the region through the streets of Kaili, and also craft-shows, bullfighting, cockfighting and tea drinking ceremonies.
Travellers can also find more remote festivals in various other parts of the province of Guizhou. The Dong region too, should not be missed and there are many antiphonal singing festivals. If you miss the festivals local agents will always arrange the villagers to put on lusheng dancing for you, so that you will have an opportunity to see the magnificent costumes of the Miao and Dong people. |
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