Siyueba Festival is a traditional festival celebrated by Miao, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Zhuang, Yi, Tujia and Gelao peoples in Guizhou, the west Hunan and the north Guanxi. The contents and styles of celebration activities are not exactly the same in different places, of which, the most profound and far-reaching one among them is that of the Miao people in Guiyang.
On every April 8th, according to the lunar calendar, the Miao people in their best costumes in Guiyang and nearby gather around Penshuichi in the downtown of the city, to sing and dance to the melodies from the Lusheng and the bamboo flutes to celebrate their own traditional festival. Legend has it that Siyueba Festival is in memory of the ancient Miao heroes buried at the very place where Pengshuichi now lies on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month—Siyueba. This ceremony passed down from generation to generation, thus becoming a custom.
Now, this festival has become a joyous celebrated day by Miao, Buyi, Dong, Zhuang, Shui, Gelao, or even the Han people and other ethnic groups, a grand ceremony to demonstrate the traditional culture of various minority groups. Some young minority people take this advantage of the chance to make friends and choose their future spouses through their dancing and singing with deep love. |