The third day of the third lunar month is a traditional festival of Li nationality in Hainan. Li people call March 3rd "the blessing of the year", which is a festival to wish "mountain orchids" (dry valleys in mountainous areas) and harvest hunting, and it is also a day for young men and women to communicate freely. People call it "Love Day". Legend has it that in ancient times, brother and sister hid in pumpkins and survived. Today, in Dongfang Town, Dongfang City, every year on the third day of the third lunar month, young men and women from all over the country get together to participate in the "March 3" grand event, singing and dancing, and talking about love.
Since ancient times, every year on the third day of the third lunar month, the people of Li nationality have been dressed in festive costumes, carrying baskets of rice wine and bamboo-flavored rice, gathering together from all directions, or worshipping their ancestors, or in groups of three or five, singing and dancing, playing percussion instruments and celebrating the festival. Young men and women even revel in festivals, make friends with songs, express their feelings with dances, immerse themselves in happy love until dawn, and will bid farewell to reunion on March 3 next year. Li nationality has a very broad mass base on March 3rd. With the changes of the times, the contents of the celebration are increasingly diverse, but performing songs, folk sports competitions, national songs and dances, wedding customs and so on are still the most basic contents.
On May 20th, 2006, March 3rd Festival of Li nationality was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, numbered ⅹ- 12.
Main activities in Hainan on March 3rd.
Every spring, on the third day of the third lunar month, men and women in Mobil dialect wear costumes and bring Shan Lan rice wine, bamboo slips and zongzi to the meeting place from all directions to worship their ancestors. As night falls, old people get together to drink and catch up, while young men and women are in groups of three or five. People sing all night and convey their affection with songs.
Li people who live in the south of Hainan Island will make pig's head, rice wine and rice balls as sacrifices every March 3rd Festival, and go to Robbie Cave and Ganshiling Cave in Sanya to pray for the safety of their ancestors. On the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the Li people in the harmonious area of Wuzhishan slaughtered pigs, held banquets, gathered people to beat gongs and drums, danced dances to worship their ancestors, celebrated the blessings brought by spring, inspired the souls of pregnant women and wished them children in the future.
During the festival, young men and women will generally perform "bamboo pole jump". Today, it became an activity in which 12 or 16 people participated, 8 people swung the pole, and 4 or 8 people jumped the pole. The activity began with the sound of gongs and drums and music. Eight people who hold the pole open and close the bamboo pole in their hands rhythmically, while the people who jump the pole jump and turn around in the bamboo pole with the opening and closing of the bamboo pole.
This activity is also a means for Li Youth to spread love. The winning girl is often the goal pursued by the young man, and the winning young man is often the girl's sweetheart.
The venue is usually set in an open rubber forest, which is quiet, cool and quiet: sometimes couples leave the bonfire quietly, the young man hangs the ear bell on the girl's ear, inserts the hair pin made of deer bone in the girl's bun, and the girl ties her carefully woven colorful belt around her lover's waist, and the two sides swear to meet on March 3 the following year.
March 3rd is the festival of love.
Haizhou Bay in Jiangsu Province is mountainous, with the sea at the foot of the mountain, the mountain by the sea and the mountain stream connected with the sea. Some older young men and women who want to mate, on the birthday of the Queen Mother on the third day of March every year, put boats on sentry duty to realize pairing.
According to legend, all couples who rely on this providence are happy couples. Young women who want to choose a mate make a hull out of ocean crab shells or squid spines, and then install some parts similar to real ships, such as rudder, mast, sail and downwind flag. Then fish bones, snail shells, fish eyes, fish scales and other things are carefully pieced together into small animals such as cranes, chickens, sheep and panlong according to their natural shapes and placed in the cabin as souvenirs.
On the third day of March, from early morning to before sunset, groups of young women, both shy and joking, carefully took homemade boats to the dense Woods on the mountain to avoid being seen by others, put them into the mountain stream, and followed the water with peach petals to the beach downstream. It's called releasing the boat. At the same time, some young men who are courting are waiting on the beach at the exits of various mountain streams. Any boat that goes upstream will be owned by whoever finds it first, and there is little competition. When people are looking into the distance, some simple and honest people pick up a boat from their feet, which is called guarding the boat. Generally, on March 3rd every year, some people get married after being released and detained. There are still some people stranded in the middle of the ship and cannot be solved. Years of releasing the boat have been fruitless. Every year when the boat is released, there will always be some jokes left, which will be enough for the villagers to laugh for a year. In the process of releasing and guarding the ship, there is a strict traditional custom that men are not allowed to go up the mountain and women are not allowed to go to the beach. If men and women meet, there will be marital discord and poverty in the future. Once young people can keep the boat, they will rely on the keepsake on the boat to ask the media for matchmaking. As long as the woman and her parents verify that the token is true, the marriage will be mentioned. In fact, except for a few young men and women who believe in peach blossom luck, some young men and women who are lovers have already agreed in advance on the time and place of releasing the boat and the characteristics of the token. Many marriages are about letting go of the boat, and both parties are lovers.