The Miao Sisters' Festival in Guizhou on March 15 every year, also known as Sisters' Meal Festival, refers to the Miao people in some areas of Taijiang County, Shibin County and Jianhe County in Guizhou Province eating sisters' meals every spring. The exact time varies from place to place. The festival etiquette is simple and unique, and the most typical and spectacular is the Miao Sisters' Festival in Shidong District, Taijiang County, Qingshui River from March 15 to 17 of the lunar calendar every year. Focusing on young women, the festival invites lovers to get together to have sister meals, dance, encourage, sing, give each other tokens and enter into an engagement, which truly shows the love life of men and women in the process of human society changing from matriarchal clan society to paternal clan society. Here, the ancient Miao song and dance costume art, fierce and thrilling dragon dance and bullfighting entertainment, quiet and warm farm life and modern tourism activities that pursue returning to the original are intertwined and interactive, and are known as "the festival hidden in the flower bud" and "the oldest Oriental Valentine's Day", which is becoming a beautiful scenery of modern tourism economy in southwest China. The Legend and Evolution of Sisterhood Day
Miao Sisters Festival covers a wide range. Hundreds of villages and hundreds of thousands of Miao people have somewhat simplified or similar manners and customs, and the legends are slightly different. There are three main legends about its origin.
1. It is said that there is a Miao village in Geyi area of Taijiang County. The men in the village go hunting far away every year and never come back for a long time. There are many women and children and seventy sisters as beautiful as flowers and pure as jade in the stockade. Women come back from work, raise children and live an endless life. Sisters go up the mountain to pick fruits and work in the fields. At home, sisters also weave brocade and pick flowers and rust. The cloth box they knitted won't hold it. The colorful brocade they weave is more beautiful than the rosy clouds in the sky. The flowers they embroidered, bees and butterflies are flying around, but the seventy sisters always feel that something is missing, and their hearts are always restless, because they have reached the age of cardamom. So the two sisters invited each other to open a field. They chose a place rich in water resources and turned their minds to land reclamation. They opened a large field, and Tian Sheng couldn't see Tian Sheng from here. So they kept a lot of fish in the field. Spring came, and they sowed glutinous rice seeds in the fields. Autumn came, and the glutinous rice they laid was piled up in warehouses and warehouses, and they brewed tanks after tanks of glutinous rice wine. I have everything to eat, drink and wear, but my sisters always feel that something is missing, and there are few songs and laughter. Seeing the sisters' thoughts, the old people came up with a good idea, suggesting that they keep the inexhaustible glutinous rice and glutinous rice wine, and cook glutinous rice with polished rice when it blooms in the spring next year, and then hold a banquet in the field to catch fish, shrimp, shells and snails to welcome young men from afar to eat sister rice, drink, dance, make friends and choose a spouse. The next year, through this form, some sisters also chose the right partner and married happily. After eating sister meals, a special festival will be formed.
It is said that Miao people used to live in the Far East. Later, due to the increasing population, living difficulties, famine and war, they were forced to move to the west. Every time I live in a place for a period of time, some sisters will get married, and those who migrate again will not be able to go home. It's been a long time since I met her, but it's been a long time since we separated, so they decided to catch fish and shrimp in the fields in the spring season, invite married sisters back to get together with unmarried sisters, have a sister meal, speak their minds and say goodbye. This has become the annual Sister's Day. As the saying goes, after eating a sister's meal, I miss you for a year.
3. The legend of Sister Festival mainly comes from the songs of Sister Festival, with more than 500 lines. According to legend, there are two children in menstruation, one is then and the other is Jiao. They were childhood friends and fell in love when they grew up. Then they must marry Jiao and Jiao must marry them. However, Jiao's parents want her to marry back to her uncle's house (in the old Miao custom, this is called "returning the mother's head"). Jiao doesn't want to marry back to her uncle's house, but she must marry then; Later, I didn't want to marry anyone else, and I have been waiting for Jiao. For the sake of faithful love, they secretly date every day. I am afraid that my parents and Zhai Lao will find out that they met and fell in love in the wild. Every time, Jiao used her bamboo basket with needle and thread to secretly hide the rice and take it there. Year after year, after a hard and indomitable struggle, they finally became husband and wife. So there is the allusion of "sister rice", that is, Miao language calls the food brought to lovers "gad liangl", which is translated into "sister rice" in Chinese.
Later, I don't know how many years passed. It is said that there are 800 girls in Shidong area of Taijiang county who can't get married because they can't find a boyfriend. There are 800 young men in Sanbing Datang who are single because they can't find a wife. The old people remembered the story of Jiao He eating "sister rice", so they taught the girls to eat "sister rice" with Jiao He's method, and invited 800 young men from the Three Soldiers Tang Dynasty. In this way, everyone found their own Mr Right, and the couple got married. Since then, eating "sister meals" has evolved into a holiday activity in which young men and women choose lovers as the main content.
Eating "sister rice" in Shidong area is very lively. Every year in the third month of the lunar calendar, the festival is approaching, and Miao villages near and far are busy, ready to meet and participate in this annual grand festival.
On the thirteenth day of the third lunar month, Miao girls in each village went up the mountain to pick black-leaf yellow flowers dyed with glutinous rice. /kloc-before the morning of 0/4, the girls all went to the fields to catch fish and shrimp (no matter whose field it is). In the afternoon, the girls each brought a big bowl of colored glutinous rice, two duck eggs (for fried shrimp) and some money (whatever) to buy ducks. Why are there only ducks and duck eggs but no chickens and eggs? Because ducks can cross the river, it symbolizes that they can cross the other shore and pair up with lovers. All these preparations are complete, and girls of similar age are concentrated in a family home (preferably a family without boys or boys, so that they can receive boyfriends from other places), and then they have "sister meals" there with men from other places in the evening. After dinner, everyone agreed to sing and love in the square or alley of the village and stayed up all night.
March 15- 17 is the official activity time of the music festival, and it is also a lively climax. During the day, the girls wear beautiful dresses and gorgeous silver ornaments, and go to langxi (place name, translated as Yangjiaping) to watch bullfighting and sparrows; Dance lusheng and wood with the men who eat "sister rice" with them; At night, as on 14, men and women gather in the square or alley of the village to sing and love. At this time, the girls (in many batches of different ages) used bamboo baskets to hold colorful dumplings and gifts such as fish, meat and duck eggs for the men who accompanied them for two days. In the coming Sister's Day, these young men collectively raise money to buy gifts (embroidered silk thread, silks and satins, etc. ), put it in the bamboo basket given by the girls last year and bring it back to the girls (called returning the bamboo basket). After so many times of coming and going, you can get to know each other better, then you can pour out your love and finally get married.
Now, a few days before Sister Spider Festival, my sisters went to Shan Ye to collect the leaves of southern Kandelia candel. All kinds of flowers and plants, such as Yunnan sister and honey, are soaked in cold water and boiled in water to make black, red, yellow and green juice. Then soak the glutinous rice with these juices respectively. After a day or two, the juice completely permeates the glutinous rice, then it is taken out and filtered separately, and then the excess color juice is washed away with clear water, and then the glutinous rice soaked in various colors is evenly mixed and steamed on a steamer, thus becoming a colorful sister rice with bright color and overflowing fragrance. This kind of girl rice made of all kinds of wild flowers and weeds is not only colorful, fragrant and delicious, but also inconvenient and will not go bad after a long time. It also has the effects of improving eyesight, strengthening the body, nourishing and strengthening the body, and is a special food given to relatives and friends during festivals.
Festival activity process
Prepare:
Before the festival, the girls went fishing in the fields. In ancient times, no matter what kind of field fish, the field owner generally did not interfere. Every household goes to the slope to pick "sister flowers" to make "Galiang" (glutinous rice) and cook "Galiang" to prepare enough food and wine.
Festival process:
In most areas, girls voluntarily raise eggs, meat, fish, wine, sister meals and other foods to entertain invited young students. When the young students come home, the girl who is the host will invite the sisters in the village to accompany them, and everyone will sing while drinking and eating sister meals. Sister rice is dyed red, purple, green and yellow in Laotun and Shidong, which is crystal clear, fragrant and delicious. The rest areas are dyed black, also called black rice, which is made by picking a fragrant young leaf from the hillside and dyeing it. When singing, men and women sit in two rows, then take their positions, open the curtain and sing, and express their feelings with songs. The content of antithesis songs is very extensive. There are questions about ancient songs, and there are also questions about love song duets. Girls use songs to ask about the origin of Sister's Day and what Sister's Meal symbolizes. You sing and I answer, and the songs are endless. Express your true feelings through vivid metaphors and rich associations. At the end of the song, who can't answer, or sing out of tune with the other party, answer irrelevant questions and so on. , will lose. If the girl loses, give the man gifts, such as bracelets, earrings, rings, etc. If the man loses, he used to give the woman a silver bracelet, but now he gives her a watch or a memorable gift. The winner also wants to thank a valuable gift. If the two sides give gifts to each other voluntarily, it is mostly during festivals, and some middle-aged and old men meet and sing with women of the corresponding age in the nearby stockade, which is similar to that of young people. In festivals, in addition to these activities, there are activities such as drumming, bullfighting, bird shooting and horse racing. At the end of the festival, young students go back, and the girls hold sister meals in bamboo baskets or new handkerchiefs as gifts for young students. Getting a girl's sister meal shows that you have a good impression on girls. If there are no girls to send them, boys can also "beg" for girls' poor fashion and casually say, "Please send a good dish to prevent mosquitoes!" Girls often feel sympathetic and generous. In rice baskets and handkerchief bags for young students, astute girls often quietly hide marks, such as pine leaves, bamboo hooks, live chickens and ducks, Toona sinensis buds, peppers or garlic, to convey various feelings.
Symbolic meaning of festivals
The symbolic meaning of Mi Jie's color: green symbolizes the beauty of hometown like Qingshui River, red symbolizes the prosperity of stockade, yellow symbolizes the abundant grain, purple and blue symbolizes prosperity, and white symbolizes pure love.
The significance of the girl's rice target:
(1) Tibetan pine leaf: stands for needle, suggesting that future generations will give back girls embroidery needles and flower threads in the future.
② Hanging bamboo hooks: It is suggested to use an umbrella as a reward, and hang several hooks to send several umbrellas. If you put two bamboo hooks on each other, it means that you hope to have more contacts with girls in the future.
(3) Putting Toona sinensis buds: It means that the girl is willing to marry the younger generation. Because Miao language calls Toona sinensis bud "e" and "yang" means "yin" and "marriage", the girl implies that she hopes the younger generation will get married as soon as possible.
(4) Putting cotton: It implies that the girls miss the younger generation very much. Because the Miao language calls cotton "forbearance", which is consistent with the Miao language's "missing", it implies the feeling of missing.
⑤ Fangxi cuisine: Its meaning and implication are the same as those of Spring Bud cuisine, because this dish is called "E Yang Xi" in Miao language, and the meaning of "Yang" is the same as above.
⑥ Put cotton leek: it means to get married in a hurry.
⑦ Hang a live duck: I hope I can give a little pig back to the girl in the future, so that I can kill it for everyone to eat and get together again at the sister dinner next year.
8 put pepper or garlic: suggesting that you don't want to associate or break up in the future.