Festival. The 24th of the twelfth lunar month (from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in some areas and Tujia people) to the 30th of the twelfth lunar month is a traditional festival that all parts of southern Hunan attach great importance to. According to legend, the 24th is the day when Kitchen God went to heaven. It is an old custom to prepare sacrificial fruit for the stove on the evening of 23rd, and ask the kitchen god to say more nice things when playing in the sky. On the 24th, the family got together for the "off-year" and cleaned the stadium on the 28th. The most solemn occasion is the New Year's Eve of the twelfth lunar month, and the wanderers go back to their hometown and have a reunion dinner, which is called New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve dinner is very rich, with chicken, duck, fish, eggs and vegetables, full of cups and lamps, but many places still retain traditional and unique recipes. Fish is an indispensable dish for every household, which means "more than one year"; Chenzhou people like to eat sour radish and pork liver and intestines, which symbolizes that people should have liver and intestines; Hongjiang area likes to eat spring powder, which is covered with fish, meat, chicken, duck, hoof flower and ginger to show yes-men. Some people also have a bowl of four-season onion mixed with tofu, which means "four distinct seasons, good luck and good luck". On New Year's Eve, there is a folk custom, that is, watching the New Year's Eve, and the whole family sitting around the fire to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Many places have the habit of burning wood for fire, and take the homonym of "wealth head", hoping for good luck in the New Year.
Spring Festival. Old customs generally last from the first day of the first month to the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month. When the rooster crows on the first day of Xinzheng, firecrackers are set off in front of the hall, which is called "opening the door" and "opening the door". Lighting candles to worship heaven, earth and ancestors, and then going out to worship heaven and five parties, called "going out" or "going out" festivals are even more colorful, and the most lively is playing dragon lanterns. There are many kinds of dragon lanterns, including long dragon, old dragon, young dragon, ao dragon and grass dragon. Playing with dragon lanterns usually means turning off the lights on the fifth day, turning off the lights on the fifteenth day, marching between streets and alleys, and dancing when there are many people. In Chenxi area of western Hunan, some people play with dragon lanterns until the 30th day of the first month, and they will visit dozens of villages with the same surname around them, commonly known as "player lanterns". On the fifteenth day of the first month of the Lantern Festival, all families will eat Yuanxiao to show their reunion and harmony.
Ethnic minorities in Hunan have their own unique customs in celebrating the Spring Festival, among which the Dong people's Spring Festival of 2008, the Tujia people's Spring Festival of 2008 and the Spring Festival of 2008 are unique. Every year from the third day to the fifteenth day of the first month in Huaihua Dong Village, there is a custom of collectively visiting another village as a unit, which is called the "Day-to-Day Year". After the last Lushengke went to another village, the main village would hold a group banquet. First, the 12-year-old boy specially selected by Kecun can speak "money". Generally speaking, the content of "tolerance" ranges from creation, flood, human origin, the origin of Lusheng to village rules and regulations. Every time I say a paragraph, everyone agrees: "Yes!" As a token of gratitude. After the payment, the main village held a big banquet and broke up happily. Tujia people in Xiangxi celebrate the Spring Festival one day ahead of schedule. According to legend, Tujia soldiers in the Ming Dynasty were transferred to the southeast coast to resist Japan, and the military orders were urgent, so they passed the New Year ahead of schedule and went to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War. Tujia soldiers made their first contribution to the southeast after they went out to war. In order to commemorate this expedition, later generations advanced the Spring Festival by one day, which has continued to this day. Tujia people's "annual meeting" usually begins on the third day of the first month and lasts for several days and nights. The most lively thing is dancing, and there are also traditional folk sports and material exchanges such as wrestling with cattle, fighting against Jin, and grabbing eggs by clams.
In Tomb-Sweeping Day and Hunan, people still have the custom of worshipping ancestors to sweep graves and putting paper on graves. People still fly kites on this day because of the spring flowers around Tomb-Sweeping Day and the prevalence of hiking.
On the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May, there is a custom of dragon boat race in Hunan to commemorate Qu Yuan's sinking into the river, especially in Miluo. Dragon Boat Festival food is mainly zongzi and salted eggs. There are folk customs such as hanging incense drugs such as Aipu, winding colorful silk thread, burning smoked houses with atractylodes rhizome, Atractylodes macrocephala and cloud incense, and lighting realgar on children's foreheads, which means avoiding diseases and evil spirits. In many places, especially Tujia people, there are Dragon Boat Festival. The fifth day of May is the Little Dragon Boat Festival, and the fifteenth day of May is the Big Dragon Boat Festival. Miao people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival on the Dragon Boat Festival.
June 6th, also known as the Semiannual Festival, is regarded as the annual flavor festival of the New Year in all parts of Hunan. During the festival, seven rows of grains are steamed on rice. Recently, some people will put new rice on old rice and steam it all with new rice, first to respect their ancestors, then to give the dog a taste and then to taste new rice. To show that you don't forget the blessings of your ancestors and the virtue of dogs stealing food from heaven. Some places in Shaoyang will offer sacrifices to cowshed land on June 6th. On June 6th, there is the habit of drying clothes, quilts and books everywhere, and there is a saying that "people dry clothes and robes".
Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as the Reunion Festival. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the bright moon is in the sky, the whole family will set up a table sweetmeats under the moon for placing new melons, lotus roots, moon cakes, Yue Bai and family reunion. Changsha folk songs have "flowers in August, girls in every family", all of which are married to women to celebrate the festival. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, women have the habit of putting osmanthus flowers in their rooms, and there is also the old habit of "fragrance in August" in South Vietnam. The main food of Mid-Autumn Festival is moon cakes, and some areas in Hunan also have the habit of wrapping jiaozi in mid-August, and don't eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.
In addition to the above festivals, the most solemn festivals of Miao people in Xiangxi are "April 8" and "Catch Autumn". April 8 is a festival to commemorate the Miao heroes' elegant arts. On the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, people dressed in costumes flocked to the place where Yayi, a Miao hero, fought-the Phoenix ebb well to "jump on the moon". Festival activities include playing lusheng, suona, singing contest, drumming and dancing. "Catch Autumn" is a festival for Miao people to celebrate the harvest. At the beginning of autumn, people dress up and gather on the threshing floor, swinging, singing Miao songs, performing Miao operas, dancing dragons, lions and blowing konoha leaves. Young men and women fall in love and look for partners. There are many festivals of Yao people in Hunan, and Yao people in different regions have their own unique festivals. For example, the Longhui Yao people hold "exploring music" from the fifth day to the seventh day of the seventh lunar month every year; The Yao people in Dongkou hold Paga Festival on the sixth day of the tenth lunar month. On October 16th of the lunar calendar, "Wang Pan Festival" was held in Yao area in southern Hunan, and "Drum Hall" was held in Yao home in Xinning. Among them, the "Wang Pan Festival" to celebrate the birthday of ancestor Wang Pan is particularly important. On this day, Yao men, women and children are all dressed up, singing and dancing together, and the most wonderful thing is to dance gongs and drums. Dancers hold long drums and stand on a small square table, beating drums with their hands and dancing at the same time. Their knees are always bent, and each posture keeps a curve, with clear rhythm and stable strength.
People of all ethnic groups in Hunan have many traditional festivals, such as "March 3rd", "Grain Rain Tea Festival" and "Laba Festival", Sama Festival and Daughter Festival of Dong people, Bird Festival of Jianghua Yao people and Rodent Festival of Xiangxi Tujia people. , have strong national and regional characteristics.