The Fenlong Festival is a folk festival spread across the north and south.

It is rainy at this time. Legend has it that it is the day when the dragon separates and goes to various places to make rain. It is an important festival of the Maonan people.

During festivals, there is a custom of killing a cow to offer sacrifices. So, do you know why it must be a sacrifice to kill a cow?

Hurry up and learn more about Maonan Culture.

The origin of the Dragon-Splitting Festival: The Maonan people live in the Dashi Mountain area on the border of Guizhou and Guangxi. The terrain is high in the south and low in the north. The climate is different between the north and the south, so the folk customs are also different. With the steep Tie'ao as the boundary, Zhongnan in the north is called Shangtuan.

, Xianan in the south is called Xiatuan. The date of the festival is calculated from the summer solstice in May every year, counting forward according to the order of the earthly branches, until Chenri is the Dragon Festival of Xiatuan.

Therefore, the upper group always celebrates the festival five days earlier than the lower group. Because it is divided into two activities to sacrifice the dragon, it is called the Dragon Festival.

The reason why cattle are killed on the Dragon Festival: The Dragon Festival is a festival that promises a bumper harvest and fruitful results.

As an important role in agricultural production, cattle are one of the important guarantees of people's lives.

The Maonan people kill cattle every year during the Dragon Festival at the Sanjie Temple in the village to pay homage to the legendary Sanjie Gong, the founder of the Maonan people’s cattle-raising, and to pray for the health of humans and animals.

Killing a bull as a sacrifice: The day before the festival, a bull is killed and its head, tail, feet and internal organs are sacrificed to the dragon.

During the ceremony, a mage chanted sutras and danced.

The beef is distributed to each household or sold in the market, and the income is used as festival expenses.

Two or three days after the dragon sacrifice, each household worships its ancestors, immortals of the three realms, kitchen king, landowner empress, etc., and also prays to the gods for a good harvest.

He also fed the cow with glutinous rice and steamed meat to reward it for its hard work in farming, and gave the cow a day off to let it have a good rest.