The Miao people are a nation rich in ancient civilization and emphasizing etiquette. Their festivals are unique and distinctive every year. The traditional festivals of the Miao people are divided into functional meanings: ⒈ festivals for agricultural activities; ⒉ festivals for material exchanges; ⒊ festivals for men and women to socialize, fall in love, and choose spouses; ⒋ sacrificial festivals; ⒌ commemorative and celebratory festivals. In chronological order, one year is divided into twelve months, and each month has more than one festival. The 1st to 15th day of the moving month (rat or child month) (the first child day to the second Yin day) is the Wan Nian Festival, of which the first child day is the Tiansui Festival, and the Miao people do not go out (far away); the first child day is the Tiansui Festival. The first Chou Day is the Di Sui Festival. During the period from the 1st Chou Day to the 2nd Chou Day (2-14), people visit relatives and friends one after another, congratulate each other on the New Year, sing duets between men and women, play with dragon lanterns, lions, etc.; The 2nd Yin day (the 15th) is the tail year (burning dragon lanterns). The first ugly day of the partial month (Ox month or Chou month) is the She Day, also known as the Dragon Head Festival. The Miao people offer sacrifices to the earth god, Jielong and Anlong (Miao language Ranrong).
The first Yin day of January (Tiger month or Yin month) is a festival for material exchange and socializing between men and women (called March 3 Street Festival in Chinese).
The first day of February (the rabbit month or the Mao month) is the Ox King Festival (called April 8 in Chinese), the social cherry gathering between men and women, and the birthday of Buddha.
The first Chen day and the second Yin day of March (Dragon Moon or Chen Moon) are the Small Dragon Boat Festival and the Big Dragon Boat Festival respectively. The Small Dragon Boat Festival later commemorated the patriotic poet Qu Yuan (Mi). surname), also known as Qu Yuan Festival and Singer Festival.
The first Si day of April (Snake month or Si month) is the Dragon Subduing Festival (known as June 6th and June Festival in Chinese) and the New Eating Festival (barley ripening).
The first sub-day of May (horse month or noon month) is the Xiaonian Festival (called the Seven Sisters in Miao language, namely the Big Dipper).
The second Yin day of June (the sheep month or the last month) is the Duck Festival, and the second Chen day is the Autumn Festival.
The first Shen day of July (Monkey month or Shen month) is the Wine Festival (glutinous rice is harvested to brew sweet wine and rice wine).
August (rooster month or unitary month) is the Festival of Sacrifice (mainly activities such as vertebrate cattle, eating pigs, dancing incense, returning Nuo wishes, and enlivening dragons to worship ancestors and souls).
In the Hunting Festival in September (Dog Month or Xu Month), a day is chosen to worship the three gods of Meishan and start hunting.
October (Pig month or Hai month) Mao day and noon day are the Pig Soup Festival (killing the New Year pig), Kitchen God Festival (sacrifice to the Kitchen God), New Year's Eve (New Year's Eve, called Miao in Chinese) People celebrate the New Year in October).
April Eighth
"April Eighth" refers to the Miao, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Zhuang, Yi, Tujia, Gelao and other ethnic minorities in Guizhou, western Hunan, northern Guangxi and other places. traditional festival. The contents of festivals vary from place to place. Among them, the "April 8th" celebration of the Miao people in Guiyang City is the one with the largest scale, the most solemn scenes, and the most far-reaching influence. Every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the Miao people from Guiyang City and neighboring counties dress in their ethnic costumes and gather around the fountain in the center of Guiyang. They played the reed pipes and flutes, sang folk songs, and danced Miao dances to celebrate their traditional festivals. There are many legends about the origin of "April 8th". It is mainly to commemorate the ancient Miao heroes who were buried on "April 8th" in the area of ??today's fountain. It has been passed down from generation to generation and has become a custom.
Legend has it that in ancient times there was a Miao leader named "Yanu" who led the Miao people to fight against the rulers. He once organized the Miao leaders of each village to drink chicken blood at the landlord's "Drinking Blood Ao" and vowed to unite with the Communist Party and fight to the end. They also agreed to gather people in a certain mountain for an uprising on April 8. After the uprising, Yi Che won successive victories and reached Sichuan and Guizhou. On April 8 of the following year, Yanou unfortunately died in battle near the fountain in Guiyang City. In order to commemorate this national hero, the Miao people hold commemorative activities on April 8th every year to recall Yayi's achievements and sweep the graves of the war dead. After the Qianjia Miao uprising in the Qing Dynasty, the rulers prohibited the Miao people in Xiangxi from holding this event, causing the Miao people to lose an extremely meaningful traditional festival. After liberation, with the approval of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, "April 8th" was designated as a unified festival for the Miao people.
The eighth day of the fourth lunar month every year is a traditional festival for the Miao people in Guiyang, Huangping, Songtao, Guizhou Province and Xiangxi, Hunan. The festival was developed to commemorate the Miao hero Yanu. During every festival, Miao compatriots will steam glutinous rice and gather in a fixed place to play the sheng, dance or sing love songs. The Miao people in Beijing also celebrate April 8th.
On the eighth day of April in the lunar calendar, the Miao people wear silver ornaments and new clothes and gather from the top of the mountain, the mountainside, and Pingba to the April 8th festival venue. On this day, Nuo opera and Shangqi Festival are held. There are excellent national and folk cultural performances such as knife ladder, descending into the sea of ??fire, lion dance, flower drum playing, song competition, suona playing, wood leaf blowing, autumn crotch playing, requesting and accepting requests, martial arts, and tea lanterns. With the deepening of reform and opening up, the commemorative activities have added new contents such as economic and trade negotiations, art and cultural seminars, tourism and sightseeing. Today's traditional Miao festival on April 8th has become a time for the Miao people to display their national culture, strengthen national unity, and attract investment. A comprehensive event that promotes economic development and builds spiritual civilization, it attracts more and more scholars, tourists and businessmen. The content of activities is also increasing year by year.