The origin of the Zhuang Spring Festival and what are the traditional festivals of the Zhuang people

Zhuang compatriots in Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangdong and other regions celebrate the Spring Festival at the same time as the Han people. On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, it is necessary to prepare the rice eaten on the day of the festival, which is called "pressing the New Year rice", and the masses in some areas call it "eating the festival", and the Zhuang language means "living in old age". It augurs well for a good agricultural harvest in the coming year.

Some of them also make alkane porridge that is more than a foot long and weighs five or six catties, and a family with a small population can't eat it all in one meal! Early in the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, people get up before dawn, put on new clothes, set off firecrackers to welcome the new year, and women are vying to go to the river or the well to "draw new water" and start the boiling life of the new year.

In addition to celebrating the Spring Festival, the Zhuang people also have another "old age" on the 30th day of the first lunar month. Both festivals are equally grand. On the morning of the festival, when the sky is about to dawn, the women rush to the riverside and the well to get new water, and on this day, they cannot drink the water of the previous day.

In the past, in some areas, the new water was weighed immediately after being retrieved, and compared with the same amount of old water, if the new water was heavy, it would indicate a good harvest year. During the festival, young men and women gather on the roadside or hillside in the village to sing mountain songs. Sometimes they sang for three days and nights.

In some regions, young men and women also like to throw hydrangeas (sewn from cloth of various colors, with five locks of tassels at the corners and bottoms, and colored ropes tied in the middle) during the festival. The center of the ball is filled with grain bran and weighs about half a kilogram.

The traditional festivals of the Zhuang nationality mainly include: Gyro Festival, Longduan Festival, Copper Drum Festival, Ant Kidnapping Festival, Flower Po Festival, "March 3" Song Festival, Ox Soul Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, Bailing Festival, etc.

In addition to these festivals with the characteristics of their own ethnic groups, traditional Han folk festivals such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Spring and Autumn Sheday, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang, and Chinese New Year's Eve are also traditional festivals of the Zhuang people.

Gyro Festival. In the place where the Zhuang people live in Guangxi, a famous sports event is held every year - the Gyro Festival. The time is from two or three days before the Chinese New Year's Eve in the old calendar year to the 16th day of the first month of the new year, which lasts for more than half a month.

The spinning top, coupled with the skillful spinning technique, spun up for seven or eight minutes before falling down. The competition is even more lively, and the first place winner is called "Gyro King". It is said that the spinning top has a history of more than 300 years since its rise.

Longduan Festival. Longduan Festival is a traditional festival of the Zhuang people in Funing County, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and the nearby Zhuang people. "Longduan" (Zhuang language, the meaning of rushing to Tianba), the traditional festival of the Zhuang people is the transliteration of Zhuang language, which means to gather in a wide and flat place.

Brass Drum Festival. Traditional festivals of the Zhuang people in the area of Donglan County and Changle Township. They are at the beginning of the first lunar month of each year.

I.X. May 30th. At that time, the young men of each village form a copper drum team, carry the copper drum to the top of the high mountain near the village, hang it on a wooden frame, first beat the drum to worship the ancestors, and then carry out the copper drum beating competition.

Flower Po Festival. Zhuang traditional festival. Folklore has it that the ancestor of the Zhuang people, Liujia, was born from flowers. Later, he was in charge of giving flowers and sending children. All people are transferred to the world from the flowers in the Rokko garden, and the traditional festival of the Zhuang people is therefore worshiped as the god of flowers.

In addition to the Spring Festival, the most solemn festivals of the Zhuang nationality include: Gyro Festival, Copper Drum Festival, Flower Po Festival, March Three Song Festival, and Medicine King Festival.

1. Gyro Festival: The traditional sports event of the Zhuang nationality and the traditional festival of the Zhuang nationality are held by the Zhuang people from two or three days before the Chinese New Year's Eve of the lunar calendar to the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. When hitting, wrap the hemp rope up with two or three feet long, until you think you can, and then use the ring finger and little finger of the right hand to clamp the tail end of the hemp rope, quickly spin to the ground, and the spinning top will turn up, and the time can be turned to seven or eight minutes before stopping.

On the competition field, the Zhuang people who can spin the top for the longest time will win the first place and are known as the "king of the top".

2. Copper Drum Festival: A traditional festival of the Zhuang people in the area of Aidong and Changle Township in Donglan County. They are at the beginning of the first lunar month of each year.

I.X. May 30th. At that time, the young men of each village form a copper drum team, carry the copper drum to the top of a high mountain near the village, hang it on a wooden frame, first beat the drum to worship the ancestors, and then carry out a copper drum beating competition, which often lasts all night. At the same time, young men and women sang in unison.

At the end of the game, people had a picnic with food such as rice dumplings brought from home, and songs and laughter resounded through the valley.

3. Hua Po Festival: Folklore, the ancestor of the Zhuang people, Liujia, was born from flowers, and all people were transferred to the world from the flowers in the Liujia garden, so they were worshiped as the god of Hua Po. Zhuang women hold sacrificial ceremonies, women of the same generation in the village marry sisters with different surnames, pool money to prepare chickens and ducks from incense, candles, money paper, offering sacrifices to the god of flowers, and then go to the wild in groups to pick flowers to wear, praying for fertility and blessing the healthy growth of children.

4. March Three Song Festival: The traditional festival of the Zhuang nationality, also known as the March Song Festival. On this day, every household makes five-color glutinous rice, dyes red eggs, and celebrates the festival, some of which last for two or three days.

Song festivals in various places have specific gathering places, which are generally on the slopes of the field. Some of them made singing booths with bamboo and cloth to receive singers from other villages. People go to the song field to compete and enjoy songs, young men and women have a friendship with the song, and those who are in love with each other will give each other tokens, thinking that they are in love.

In addition, there are entertainment activities such as throwing hydrangeas, touching easter eggs, and performing spectacular plays.

5. Yaowang Festival: also known as Yaoshi Festival, a traditional festival of the Zhuang nationality. Legend has it that the King of Medicine is the god of medicine.

He discovered medicinal herbs, cured people's diseases, and taught people the knowledge of planting, collecting, and curing diseases. In the past, the larger villages in the Zhuang area all set up the Yaowang Temple to rent the celebration waiter, and the Dragon Boat Festival in May every year sacrificed to the Yaowang and carried out medicine collection and disease prevention activities. For example, the Zhuang people in the northern area of Guizhou went up the mountain to pick up herbs such as black tree, Tianji yellow, gourd tea, and ingots to boil water and bathe on this day.

In addition, each family also wraps triangular rice dumplings, boils vinegar in the house, and inserts wormwood by the door.

The Spring Festival of the Zhuang nationality generally begins to prepare for the 27th slaughter of pigs after the 23rd day of the lunar month, which is called Kamujing in the local language, 28 bags of zongzi, and the local language is called Baokou Qiang. In the Spring Festival custom of the Zhuang people, as soon as the 23rd day of the lunar month is over, the Zhuang family is filled with the atmosphere of welcoming the New Year: sweeping the beams of the house and making New Year's foods such as meat dumplings, glutinous rice cakes, rice candy, glutinous rice cakes, etc.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, men, women and children from all families, the whole family gathers together to eat "New Year's Dinner" to welcome the New Year. According to the Spring Festival custom of the Zhuang people, the "New Year's Rice" meal should be cooked more, and there should be enough to eat, which is an indication of the harvest of the next year, and the meaning of the surplus in the coming year. On Chinese New Year's Eve, the most distinctive feature of the sumptuous dishes is to slaughter large gelding chickens and fish, which must be eaten by every family.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, before dawn, people get up to freshen up and dress up, and put on new clothes to welcome the beginning of the new year.

In the Spring Festival customs of the Zhuang people, those who do not visit relatives and friends on the first day of the new year should not take a knife or cut things. It is said that if you cut something with a knife on this day, you will cut off all the good luck of the New Year. After the second day of the new year, you can visit relatives and friends, greet each other's New Year, and give each other food zongzi, rice candy, etc., which continues until the 15th Lantern Festival, and in some places even until the 30th day of the first month, the whole Spring Festival is over.

Traditional customs of the Spring Festival in other places.

1. Do New Year's goods.

China's New Year culture has a long history, and a variety of Chinese New Year customs have been derived from all over the country, which are very different from north to south, and each has its own characteristics. Although the customs are different from place to place, preparing New Year's goods and giving New Year's gifts are almost the "must-haves for the New Year" across the country. Purchasing New Year's goods, including eating, wearing, wearing, using, pasting (New Year's red), giving (New Year's greetings) gifts, etc., are collectively called "New Year's goods", and the process of purchasing New Year's goods is called "New Year's goods".

Running New Year goods is an important activity for Chinese to celebrate the Spring Festival.

2. Sacrificial stove. The folk sacrificial stove originated from the ancient people's custom of worshipping fire. As it says in the "Interpretation of Names":

Kitchen range. Create, create, eat, and merge. "The duty of the god of the stove was to take charge of the fire and manage the diet, which was later expanded to investigate the good and evil in the world in order to bring blessings and misfortunes.

The sacrificial stove has a history of thousands of years in Chinese folk, and the belief in the god of the stove is a reflection of the Chinese people's pursuit of the dream of "food and clothing".

3. Paste the New Year's red.

Year twenties. 8. On the twenty-ninth or 30th, every household "sticks New Year's red" (New Year's red is a collective term for the red festive elements pasted during the New Year, such as Spring Festival couplets, door gods, horizontal batches, New Year's paintings, and the word "Fu"). Chinese New Year's Sticker (Hui Chun) is a traditional Chinese New Year custom, which adds a festive atmosphere and places people's expectations on the New Year and a new life.

The customs of the Zhuang Spring Festival include absorbing new disadvantages and selling water, welcoming the spring cow to sing, and grabbing the head duck.

1. Draw new water.

Drawing new water is also known as picking smart water, picking new water, and picking good water. It is spread in the western part of Guangxi. In the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the new daughter-in-law or eldest girl of each family carries a bucket, holds three pillars of incense, sings a song, goes to the river or spring, inserts the incense, and puts the coins wrapped in red paper into the water to pick up the first load of new water in the new year.

2. Spring Festival Cow Song.

The spring cow is the earth cow, in ancient times, it was molded with clay, now it is the spring cow of paper, it is cleverly woven with bamboo pieces, the cow head, the horn is pasted on the cotton paper, the bull's eye is painted, and the cow body is a piece of black cloth or gray cloth. The spring cow dancers beat gongs and drums to perform in the village, and the two people who got into the bottom of the cloth, one person supported the head of the ox in front, followed by a man holding a plow. In addition, there are also gongs and drums, leading the singing of spring cow songs, and when they go to **, there are singing and laughing.

3. Rent a duck to grab the head.

After 12 o'clock on the first night of the new year, when people compete to slaughter chickens and ducks, recook zongba, and put them on the table of sacrificing ancestors according to the rules. The whole chicken and the whole duck are placed on the table**, the zongzi are peeled off and placed on both sides, and a handful of garlic seedlings with pig's head or pig's tail and red paper are placed on each side of the table. Sacrifice to the ancestors first, and then sacrifice the stove king, door god, pigsty, cattle pen, etc. one by one.

After the sacrifice is completed, the firecrackers are set off, and the first person to set off the firecrackers is to grab the first duck, thinking that if you grab the first duck, you will have good luck.

The customs of the Spring Festival of other ethnic groups:

1. Tibetans. On Chinese New Year's Eve, people put on colorful costumes, wear strange-shaped masks, and play music with snails, conches, and drums, and perform a grand and grand dance festival. The young men danced and sang wildly, saying that they would remove the old and welcome the new, and drive away evil spirits and bring blessings.

On the morning of the new year, the women carry auspicious water to wish the new year good luck.

2. Yi nationality. The Yi compatriots selected the New Year Festival according to the Yi calendar, and some celebrated the Spring Festival with the local Han people. In some areas, the Yi compatriots set up green pines in front of the door and paved the ground with pine needles to express the protection from disasters and eliminate disasters. In other areas, pigs and sheep are slaughtered and lumps of meat are eaten during festivals.

3. Gelao people.

From the first day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, men, women and children of all ages wear festive costumes, and dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of people gather on the hillside or in the arena to sing mountain songs, singing about labor, life and love.

01 Most of the festivals of the Zhuang nationality are the same as those of the local Han people, and the traditional Han folk festivals such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Spring Calendar and Autumn Calendar Day, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang, and Chinese New Year's Eve are also festivals of the Zhuang people. The festivals of the Zhuang nationality with their own characteristics are the "March 3rd" Song Festival, the "Ox Soul Festival", and the "Zhongyuan Festival".

Zhuang (Zhuang Wen: Bouxraeuz, English: Bourau), formerly known as Zhuàng, is an ethnic minority with the largest population in Chinese, and its national language is Zhuang, which belongs to the Zhuang Dai branch of the Zhuang-Dong language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family.

Zhuang originated from the "Xiou" and "Luo Yue" living in the Lingnan region recorded in the Han historical books of the pre-Qin, Qin and Han dynasties, and have Zhuang nationality distribution in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, mainly living in the south, ranging from Lianshan Zhuang Yao Autonomous County in Guangdong Province in the east, to Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province in the west, to Congjiang County in Guizhou Province in the north, and to Beibu Gulf in the south. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is the main distribution area of the Zhuang nationality.

March 3 is the most solemn festival of Han, Zhuang, Yao, Miao, Dong, Gelao, Maonan and other ethnic groups in Guangxi, and in 2014, it was determined as the traditional custom festival of Guangxi and had a two-day holiday. Among them, the three songs of March are generally popular in the Zhuang area, especially in the Hongshui River and the left and right river basins. The number of people in each concert can range from a few hundred to thousands or even tens of thousands.

Gyro Festival: In the place where the Zhuang people live in Guangxi, a famous sports event, the Gyro Festival, is held every year. The time is from two or three days before the Chinese New Year's Eve in the old calendar year to the sixteenth day of the first month of the New Year's Confession, which lasts for more than half a month.