Folk Customs and Famous Shops, Finest Products (Part 1)
Section 1: Weddings, Funerals, and Celebrations, Boat Races and Song Contests — Hunan's Grandest Miao Custom: the Luxi Sixth of the Sixth Festival Song Fair. The sixth day of the sixth lunar month is a grand song fair for the Miao people of Luxi County, held in the small market town of Liangjiatan Township at the junction of Luxi, Jishou, Guzhang, and Yuanling counties. On this day it becomes a grand festival for the Miao people.
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section One
Marriage, Sacrifice, and Congratulations; Boat Races and Song Contests
Hunan's Most Grand Miao Custom — the Luxi Sixth Day of the Sixth Month Festival Song Gathering
The sixth day of the sixth lunar month is a large-scale song gathering of the Miao people of Luxi County. The gathering is held in the small market town of Liangjiatan Township, at the junction of four counties: Luxi, Jishou, Guzhang, and Yuanling. When the day of the song gathering arrives, it becomes a grand festival for the Miao people. Miao, Tujia, and Han people from the four neighboring townships and eight surrounding villages all put on their festival best and gather at the song site, bringing the old and the young. There are at least several thousand and at most tens of thousands of people; singers gather like clouds and songs fill the air, sometimes lasting for several days, and it has long been known as a "sea of song."
The Ethnic Group in Hunan That Celebrates the New Year the Most Times — the Tujia of Xiangxi
The Tujia people of Xiangxi celebrate the New Year three times each year: the "Rushing New Year" on the twenty-ninth (or twenty-eighth) of the twelfth lunar month, the "Sixth Month New Year" on the twenty-fifth of the sixth lunar month, and the "Tenth Month New Year" on the first day of the tenth lunar month. On the evening of the "Rushing New Year," bonfires are lit in the open ground of the village, and Tujia men and women dance the Hand-Waving Dance around the bonfire and sing songs of the turning year. The "Sixth Month New Year" stems from an important migration in Tujia history. The day the migration was completed was the twenty-fifth of the sixth lunar month. After settling down, the Tujia decided to celebrate a New Year first, and on that day they slaughtered cattle and sacrificed to the gods, gradually forming the custom of celebrating the "Sixth Month New Year." The "Tenth Month New Year" was held by the Tujia after their migration to welcome the first harvest season in their new homeland. On the first day of the tenth lunar month, the Tujia organized celebratory activities, slaughtered pigs and drank wine, and exchanged New Year greetings with one another, thus forming the "Tenth Month New Year."
The Most Unique Engagement Ceremony of Hunan's Hua Yao — Longhui's Hanging Cloth Tuo
The engagement of young Hua Yao men and women in Longhui has a distinctive flavor: the token of engagement is an oil-paper umbrella. If the woman's family is willing, they wrap and hang twelve triangular silk-thread cloth tuo, tied with various colored flower cloth and silk thread, onto the ribs of the paper umbrella. For matchmaking, there is only a male matchmaker, no female matchmaker. The wedding ceremony includes the custom of smearing mud on the matchmaker and other participants.
Hunan's Oldest Engagement Custom — Engagement by Stone in Taoyuan
Engagement by stone is an ancient and simple form of betrothal in northern Taoyuan. On the day of sending the good news of betrothal, the man's family carries a shoulder pole with baskets of straw paper to the woman's home to present gifts. The woman's whole family examines and evaluates the straw paper sheet by sheet, and only after it is deemed acceptable is the engagement permitted. Those who send paper for engagement generally go and return the same day. If the woman's family places a pair of cloth shoes in the basket, and inside them are two stones wrapped in red paper, then the woman's family is considered to have agreed. If not, it means the man still has shortcomings that fail to satisfy the woman's family, and he must quickly correct them; after some time, he must carry another load of straw paper to seek the engagement. Of course, there are also cases where not even cloth shoes are placed, which means the woman's family has not agreed at all, and then he can forget about ever raising the matter of this marriage again.
Hunan's Most Traditional and Spectacular Dragon Boat Race — the Miluo River Dragon Boat Race
On the Miluo River in Miluo City, Yueyang, dragon boat races are held every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. This is an activity passed down to commemorate Qu Yuan. The dragon boats used in the race generally include the dragon head, dragon tail, hull, rudder, oars, and other musical instruments and facilities on the boat. The members on the racing boat are mainly composed of the helmsman, the commander, the oarsmen, and the drum and music players. Whenever the dragon boat race is held, thousands upon thousands of people gather, a sea of heads surges, and the noise of voices fills the air, making the scene extremely spectacular.
Hunan's Most Unique Hakka Custom — Mountain Song Contest at Taokeng, Chaling
Taokeng Township and Jiangkou Township in Chaling County, Hunan Province, are Hakka settlements with simple folkways and unique customs. During the Lantern Festival there is a mountain song contest — praying for happiness and peace; on the nineteenth day of the first lunar month they worship Guanyin — praying for prosperity of descendants; on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month they worship the Water God — praying for favorable weather; and on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month they light bonfires — praying for health and longevity. Local people have different customs at different stages of life. At birth, many people have a "carved image" made and hold a grand ceremony, entrusting the child (especially a boy) within three days to a certain large tree or a certain rock, with the meaning that the newborn will be as evergreen as the large tree and as enduring as the rock.
The Ethnic Custom of New Year Visits in Hunan Villages — the Dong "Xingnian" in Huaihua
In Dong villages in Huaihua, from the third to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month each year, there is a custom of one village collectively visiting another as guests, called "Xing
nian." After the Lusheng guests of Xingnian arrive at another village, the host village must hold a collective banquet. First, a boy of twelve or thirteen specially selected by the guest village speaks the "Kuan." The content of the "Kuan" generally runs from "the opening of heaven and earth," "the great flood," and "the origin of humankind" all the way to "village rules and clan agreements." After each passage, everyone responds in unison: "Yes!" to show appreciation. After the Kuan is finished, the host village lays out a grand feast, and all disperse happily.
Hunan Ethnic Minorities' Most Grand Ancestor-Worship Festival — the Yao "Panwang Festival"
The Panwang Festival is a major festival of the Yao people for sacrificing to their ancestor Panhu, and Yao compatriots at home and abroad all attach great importance to this ethnic sacrificial ceremony. In the Yao areas of Lanshan, Ningyuan, Jianghua, Jiangyong, and other counties in southern and southwestern Hunan, on the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month each year, Yao men, women, old and young all put on their ethnic festival costumes and gather together to sing and dance in celebration of the Panwang Festival. The songs they sing are mainly divine-entertaining songs based on the "Song of Panwang," and the dance they perform is a group dance in which each person holds a long drum about 80 centimeters long, generally danced in pairs or fours.