Overview of Mulao Traditional Festivals
The Mulao people are an ancient mountainous nation in China. They are called "Mulao" and "Mulao" in historical books since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. They are a branch of ancient "Liao" and "Ling". They mainly live in Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and a few are scattered in nearby counties and cities, living together with the Han, Zhuang, Miao, Yao, Dong, Maonan, Shui and other ethnic groups. It has its own unique national characteristics and rich in many traditional festival activities, allowing Mulao culture to be passed down to this day.
On February Spring Society Day, every household will pound glutinous rice cakes, kill chickens to worship ancestors, and pick up new daughter-in-law home. The whole village held a spring festival. Each household pooled money to buy pigs and carried them to Shewang Temple for slaughter. Each household sent a representative to participate. When paying homage to Shewang, the pork was divided into several portions, connected with bamboo, and hung them one by one. On bamboo poles and placed on both sides of Shewang Temple.
After offering sacrifices to the King of Shehe, each person took a skewer of pork home. If the Spring Society of this year was before the vernal equinox, and the people believed that the year was a good one and there was more than enough, the representatives would have a full meal first, and the remaining skewers would be distributed to each person to take them back.
If the Spring Society does not have a good year after the vernal equinox, everyone should save money and eat it first and then eat it. Divide all the pork to each household to eat, boil yellow flowers (a kind of shrub flower), cook yellow glutinous rice for the gods, and eat it for the whole family. People believe that it can reduce the harm of white ants.
The Ox King Dan Niu is hardworking and capable. He plowed the fields for people. He is unknown and works hard without complaint. All he needs is grass and water, but there is a lot to contribute. Therefore, many ethnic groups worship and love cows, and regard them as good friends of mankind. The Mulao people are no exception. The eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar is designated as the birthday of cattle, called the "Ox Birthday Festival".
On this day, no matter how busy the farm work is, the cattle are given a holiday and rest. Every household washed the cattle thoroughly, cleaned the cattle pens, and planted maple branches at the gate to drive away mosquitoes and flies. They also killed chickens and ducks, prepared wine and meat to worship the "Niulan God", and made black glutinous rice to worship the ancestors. On this day, the cattle must be given good feed. The black glutinous rice cooked must be eaten first before eating it.
"June" is a festival when Mulao people pray for blessings to avoid pests and droughts, have a bumper harvest of grains, and have a prosperous business. Before 1911, sacrifices were also made to the locust god to drive away locusts and protect seedlings.
On the seventh day of the seventh month of the ancestors 'day, ducks are killed to worship ancestors and the ancestors are taken home. On July 14, ducks are killed again to worship ancestors and send ancestors away. During the past seven days, every household burned incense on the incense table in the morning and evening, and provided wine and meat to their ancestors before eating. On the afternoon of July 14th, three animals (pork, chicken, duck), wine and vegetables were prepared and served in front of the ancestral memorial tablet.
The elderly write words such as "housekeeping thrift" and "charity" and stick them on their paper wallets, and ask the young people to run to the stage to read and burn each one. After doing it, wrap the paper ash into two bags with pumpkin leaves or banana leaves, and tie it to a small bamboo piece, called a "gold and silver pole". Then make a boat with thick paper, or tie it into small rows with banana poles, place the "gold and silver pole" on it, send it to the river, put it into the water, and let it drift. It is called "sending the ancestors off the boat". The ancestors were sent to Hades in this way.
Anlong Festival In the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, some villages in Mulaoshan Township choose an auspicious day to hold grand rituals to celebrate the "Anlong Festival". Ask the Master to preside over it, Anlong will rise, and ask the Dragon God to bless the health of the whole village. During the "Anlong" period, four large pits were dug around the village, and an oil lamp was lit in each pit and lit it day and night to guide the Dragon God.
The master murmured something, holding a sword in one hand and a torch in the other, and went from house to house, chasing away ghosts and evil spirits everywhere from room to pigsty. Then use thatch to form an ear-shaped straw sign and insert it above the gate.
The Walking Slope Festival is a day for young people to worship the moon and walk on the slopes. This day is also called the "Walking Slope Festival" or the "Early Life Festival". On the day before and after the festival, young men and women took advantage of the opportunity to rush to the street to sing folk songs in pairs on the roadside and on the hillside. Lovers present each other mooncakes (called "same year cakes") and same year shoes (also called "mandarin duck shoes"). On the evenings of the 14th, 15th and 16th, some men, women and children in the village gathered in piles to sing, while pushing one person to make a "wild tribute".
The method is: a woman sits in the middle of the crowd, crosses her hands and blocks her ears, and closes her eyes. The people around her make no sound. One person chants the curse. After four or five minutes, the woman in the field will be "dizzy and unable to wake up", her upper body shaking unsteadily. At this time, she can ask gods and ghosts to talk and sing through her. Activities often last all night long.
"Yifan Festival" is the most solemn festival of the Mulao people, also known as "Zhileu". It has the intention of praying for gods to exorcise evil spirits, ensuring security and gathering blessings, and congratulating the harvest of the five grains. It is held every 3-5 years and is held on a date after the beginning of winter. It is popular in Dongmen Town, Siba and other places in Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County, Guangxi.
There is also a folk legend about this festival: It is said that in ancient Mulao Mountain Township, a group of beasts caused harm, especially the beast king, the divine lion, which was extremely ferocious, hurting livestock and destroying crops. Just when the Mulao people were in trouble, a white horse girl came. She was extremely strong and shot the lion to death, rescued the people, and took back the grain seeds from the lion's mouth and gave them to the people. She also used taro and sweet potatoes to make cattle and water buffaloes for the people to plow the fields and cultivate the land, and taught Mulao young people to learn martial arts and kill animals.
From then on, the weather in Mulao Mountain Township was smooth and the grain was abundant. In order to commemorate her, people used the "Dong"(the Mulao people live by blood, with the same surname as one family, and the tribe is divided into "Dong") as a unit to raise funds to take turns to host the gathering, which is the Yifan Festival. According to the activities of the Festival, in addition to gathering and offering sacrifices to the gods of the "Dong" people, singers are also invited to beat gongs and drums, and sing songs and dances to entertain the gods.
During the festival, select the longest and fullest ears of glutinous rice, tie them with ribbons, and hang them on the wall. The large table in the center of the main room is filled with models of buffalo and scalper carved with taro and sweet potatoes. Five-color glutinous rice is placed. Around it are placed 12 kinds of agricultural products such as sesame seeds, soybeans, star anise, and sand ginger, as well as chickens, ducks, fish, pig hearts, and pig liver. 12 kinds of sacrifices are placed to show the prosperity of six livestock and a bumper harvest in agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry, and never forgetting the kindness and virtue of God.
Wearing red clothes, the singer sang and danced around the table, singing the "Ten Exhortations Songs" that persuade people to eliminate evil and turn towards good. It teaches people to respect their parents, teachers, be good neighbors, be honest and good, be a businessman with credibility, be diligent and diligent, and serve the public. Patriotism, etc., more comprehensively reveals the Mulao people's ethical and moral concepts and the aesthetic ideal of pursuing a perfect life. At the end of the Yifan Festival, the ears of grain and cattle models were distributed to each household.
The
is divided into kebab festivals held twice a year. Also called social festival. On this day, each family raised money to buy livestock, and each family sent one person to participate in carrying the livestock to Shewang Temple for slaughter. Divide the meat into several portions, string it with bamboo, hang it on bamboo poles one by one, and place it on both sides of the temple in honor of the King She. After the sacrifice was completed, each person took a skewer of meat and took it home. This is called dividing kebabs.
The Spring Festival is the longest festival among the festivals of the year and is integrated with New Year's Eve activities. New Year's Eve is the end of the previous year's festival and the beginning of another year's festival-the prelude to the Spring Festival. Therefore, in terms of the relationship between the two, they are two parts of the same festival, and the boundary of time divides them into two halves of the New Year and the Old Year.
Many activities during the New Year's Day are similar to those of the Han people, except that each has its own particular emphasis. On the morning of the first day of the first day, the whole family eats vegetarian food that day. On the second day of the second day, they use fragrant paper to respect the God of Wealth and participate in various cultural and sports activities.
During the Spring Festival, it is also the time to sing colorful opera. On the night of the 15th day of the first month, I go to someone else's vegetable garden and pick a few vegetable leaves. If there are no vegetables, I have to grab a handful of grass, which is called "stealing green". People believe that it will bring cleanliness and peace to the home. Lantern Festival will be played on the 15th day of the first lunar month, dragon lanterns will be played, and the New Year will end.
The New Water Picking Festival holds a new water picking event on the first day of the first month of each year. On the first morning of the New Year, housewives lit incense and torches, carried buckets to the river where they usually drew water, planted incense, threw a few coins, and worshipped the water god. After that, he fetched water and picked it home and asked his family to drink a new bowl of water. It is said that if a person drinks new water, he will have a large number of descendants. Livestock will be healthy after drinking it. On the first day of the New Year, if anyone picks up the first bucket of new water, who is considered the most auspicious.