Guizhou Shibing Longtang February Sister Festival
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The Miao people living in Shuangjing in Shibing, Guizhou Province hold a sister festival every year on the 15th of the second month of the lunar calendar. This is the earliest sister festival in the Miao area of China. It is difficult to verify the beginning of the "Sister Festival", but in the Miao epic "Da Ge", there is a quite detailed singing record, which has a history of hundreds of years.
How "Sisters 'Day" was born is left to ethnographers to study. We only need to know that "Sisters' Day" is the Miao Valentine's Day and a "festival hidden in the stamens." On the morning of the festival, the girls in the stockade will go to the fields to catch fish and prepare "brother-in-law rice". No matter which field they go to fish, they will be welcomed. After the women finished the "brother-in-law rice", they each brought the colorful glutinous rice they had prepared in advance and went to the Youfang Chang to find a young man to sing against each other. If the young man wants to eat glutinous rice, he must win in the chorus. In addition to singing, women can participate in various recreational activities at will. Married girls also have to go back to their parents 'homes to celebrate "Sisters' Day". During the festival, according to the traditional customs of the Miao family, everyone has to eat sister rice. This kind of rice is made by girls going up the mountain to pick flowers and leaves of wild plants, dyeing glutinous rice into colorful colors and steaming it. Sisters 'rice is crystal clear, fragrant, soft and delicious. In addition to eating for the whole family, guests and relatives are also invited to entertain gifts. During the festival, the Miao people carry a bamboo basket when visiting relatives and friends. In addition to dishes such as chicken and duck, there is also a fragrant and beautiful sister rice in the basket. During the festival, men wore blue, purple and other colors, and bandaged handkerchiefs, while girls wore national costumes embroidered with various beautiful patterns and patterns, with hair tied in a bun, a phoenix and silver crown, earrings, necklaces and silver rings, and covered with silver medals, rushed to the bank of the Qingshui River. It was crowded with people and was extremely lively. Some bullfight, some boated, some played gongs and drums, some played reeds and bamboos, and some sang folk songs. Many men and women stepped on drums and danced Lusheng dances on the grassland or beach along the river.
During the festival, the girls cook sister rice by extracting the colors of picked wild flowers and wild fruits and dyeing the glutinous rice red and yellow. After steaming, the glutinous rice is colorful, crystal clear and translucent, which is both beautiful and fragrant, soft and delicious. On the festival day, every family eats sister's meal. The girls 'thoughts are also hidden in this sister's rice.: The girls packed their sisters 'meals with handkerchiefs or baskets and gave them to the young man who had been with her for two days. The young man opens the rice bag. If the sister puts a pair of red chopsticks on the rice, it means that the girl likes him and is willing to make friends with him; if there is only one chopstick, it is the girl who tactfully hints to the young man not to have unrequited love anymore; if the sister puts peppers, onions, and garlic on the rice, it means that the girl does not like him, and the knowledgeable young man should change his target; If the sisters put leaves and pine needles on their rice, it tells the young man that there is at least hope. The young man should buy some satin or silk thread for the girl to strengthen contact and understanding.
Editor: Yang Xi) .