What festival is March 3rd?
In Guangxi, the third day of the third lunar month is also called "March Song Festival" or "March Song Fair", which is a traditional song festival of Zhuang people. There are several regular folk song gatherings of Zhuang nationality every year, such as the 15th day of the first month, the 3rd day of March, the 8th day of April and the 15th day of August, among which the 3rd day of March is the most grand. On this day, every household cooks colorful glutinous rice and dyes colored eggs to celebrate the festival. Song Festival usually lasts for two or three days at a time, and it is located in an open space not far from the village. Bamboo and cloth are used to build a song shed to receive singers from other villages. The duet is mainly composed of unmarried young men and women, but the elderly and children all come to watch and entertain. There are one or two thousand people in small song fairs, and tens of thousands of people in large ones.
Next to the Gewei, vendors gather and the folk trade is active. The people nearby provide accommodation and food for those who come to catch the Gewei, and they are warmly received whether they know each other or not. A large song fair, Fiona Fang dozens of young men and women came to participate in, a sea of people, singing one after another, really lively. Qiaoye in Tianyang County has always been a big song fair. People go to the song fair to compete and enjoy songs; Young men and women sing songs, and if they are congenial to each other, they give each other tokens as a token of their love. In addition, there are interesting activities such as throwing hydrangeas and touching eggs.
Throwing hydrangeas is mainly for entertainment and also as a token of love. When a girl takes a fancy to a young man, she throws the hydrangea to him. Touching eggs is for mutual fun, and it is also a promise. Song Festival is a grand gathering of people's trade and national culture. 1985, the District People's Government designated March 3rd as the Guangxi National Arts Festival.
The origin of the custom of March 3 of Zhuang nationality in Guangxi
The third day of the third lunar month, commonly known as "March 3", is the day when the Zhuang people hold a song fair. Therefore, it is also called Gepo Festival (Song and Dance Festival).
"Gexu" is a Chinese name given to Zhuang by foreigners, and Zhuang language is called "Huanlongdong", which means a song to sing in the field; Some places are called "Huanwo Dare", which means a song sung outside the cave. Because in the past, the Zhuang people rarely built temples, and the gods were placed in caves. The cave is a sacred place, and it must be solemn. Only outside the cave can you sing freely.
The lyrics of the folk song "Now Guangxi has become a sea of songs, all of which were handed down by the Third Sister" circulated in Guangxi, indicating the origin of the Zhuang Gewei Festival, which is closely related to the singer Liu Sanjie.
It is said that Sanjie Liu was born in the Tang Dynasty in a fisherman's home in Yishan, Guangxi. I love singing folk songs since I was a child, but I look beautiful when I grow up, and I export them into songs. There was a rich man nearby, Mo Huairen, who wanted to rob Liu Sanjie to marry him. Liu Sanjie vowed to die, and Mo Huairen had Liu Sanjie thrown into the river. Liu Sanjie drifted to Liuzhou along the river. Fortunately, she was rescued and lived at the foot of Yufeng Mountain. When the villagers heard the news, they rushed to learn songs. Later, she married a young hunter and has been preaching songs here. When Mo Huairen learned about it, he colluded with the government and threw Liu Sanjie and his wife into Xiaolongtan at the foot of Yufeng Mountain. In the middle of the night, the moon star was scarce. When the villagers fished them up, there was a sudden breeze. I saw Sanjie Liu and the young hunter riding on the back of a fish, singing and flying away. Since then, people have said that Sanjie Liu has become an immortal, so they called Sanjie Liu a singing fairy. In order to commemorate the singer, later generations sang folk songs for three days and three nights on the third day of the third lunar month, the day when Liu Sanjie became immortal, and the song fair was formed.
According to records, the Gewei Festival has a history of thousands of years. In the book "Taiping Huanyu Ji" written by Song people, it has been recorded that Zhuang people "men and women are dressed in costumes ... gathering to make songs". After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the development of Zhuang folk songs was particularly prominent, and song festivals were very popular. In the Qing Dynasty, a large-scale "song market" with hundreds or even thousands of people gathered to sing was formed.
During every song fair, young men and women put on festive costumes, and gather in the wilderness of hills or bamboo forests and grass slopes to sing impromptu duets, answering each other's questions and singing one after another. In the song market, the industrious and intelligent Zhuang people created colorful folk songs, which made this traditional national festival full of charming rhyme.