Gyro Festival is a traditional festival of Zhuang nationality, which starts two or three days before the New Year's Eve of the old year and lasts for more than half a month until the 16th day of the first month of the new year. On the day of Gyro Festival, Zhuang people will compete to play Gyro, and the person who wins the first place will be honored as "Gyro King".
What festival is Gyro Festival?
In places where Zhuang people live in compact communities in Guangxi, a famous sports activity-Gyro Festival is held every year. The time lasts for more than half a month from two or three days before New Year's Eve to the 16th day of the first month.
Gyroscope Festival: Playing Gyroscope
Gyroscope, called "Le Jiang" in Zhuang language, is big and small, light and heavy. Some are as big as Hetian pomelo and weigh about a catty, some are as small as goose eggs, and some are 232. To make a gyro, you must choose good quality hardwood. Its head should be smooth. When you "hit", use two or three feet of hemp rope to wrap it around several times until you feel fit, then hold the end of the hemp rope with the ring finger and little finger of your right hand and spin it to the ground quickly, and the gyro will "whir". A good quality coat, coupled with clever rotation technology, will take seven or eight minutes to fall off. It is even more lively to top the competition, and the winner is honored as the "top king". It is said that it has been more than 300 years since the rise of gyro play.
Yaoshan Gyroscope Festival
The most favorite and lively entertainment activity of Yao people with white pants in Yaoshan during the New Year is the gyro race. Therefore, Yaoshan people also call the Spring Festival Gyro Festival.
Everyone in Yao nationality has a gyro, which is roughly the same as that in Han nationality. The difference is that the gyro of Bai Yao nationality is almost twice as big as that of Han nationality, weighing two or three kilograms! A groove is also cut out along the periphery of the big head to wind the "starting rope", and the boys also paint their favorite colors on the top.
The competition was judged by the respected elders of Yao nationality. When the gyro hand hears the command of "fixing the root", he will touch his toes on the ground and press them with his hands. When they hear the "start" command, they will pull the rope in their hands like starting a diesel engine and throw the gyro out conveniently. Whoever turns the top last will be the winner. Or hit it with a gyro tile. Whoever lands first will be the loser. The crowd of onlookers surrounded the playing field three floors away. People kept clapping and cheering to cheer for the gyro players. The young people who won the prize are very popular with the girls.
Daxi gyro festival
The development of Daxi Town started from the area between the coast of Dahanxi and Heping Street. Although the port city of Daxi is no longer prosperous and brilliant, the street view and unique folk customs left by the grand occasion of that year have enabled Daxi Town to find a brand-new development orientation in the new leisure era. In addition to its own themes of old streets, carpentry, food and landscape, Daxi can become a major tourist town by combining the surrounding stone gates.
There is a very special folk sport in Daxi, which is spinning the top. Locals have been spinning gyroscopes almost from childhood to metropolis. The first generation of gyro king in Fu Jen Palace showed that the maximum gyro can reach 120 kg, and the hemp rope used to hit the gyro is thicker than the thumb. Next time you have a chance to go to Daxi, besides visiting old streets, watching carpentry and buying dried beans, don't forget to see the Daxi gyro! At present, the gyroscopes made by Daxi are still wooden gyroscopes, mostly bell-shaped and made of hardwood, such as the trunks of pomegranate trees and longan trees.