Traditional Festivals for the Zhuang Minority
By admin on 2015-01-08

The Zhuang minority celebrates festivals the whole year around, some of which center on new year resolutions, some on cultivation and the harvest, others on commemoration of ancestors. They all reflect people’s love of life and their desire for a better future. Some of them also mirror the solidarity as well as the virtues of the group, members of which help others and care for their families. The sacrifice activities on the other hand indicate sincere wishes to be protected by the Chinese gods (Jin, Mu, Shui, Huo, Tu, which represent respectively gold, wood, water, fire and earth.).

January

Spring Festival

The most important festival of the year in China is the Spring Festival, which is also grandly celebrated by the Zhuang minority. After a rich dinner the day before the Spring Festival, people gather around the fireplace to stay up late to greet the New Year. The deafening sounds of fireworks going off continue throughout the night. As the New Year comes, people light up candles and burn incense to pay respects to their ancestors and household gods for the fortunes of future generations. Pork, chicken, glutinous rice and rice wine are displayed as sacrifices

On the day of Spring Festival, most people of the Zhuang minority usually stay at home. Tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) is the main dish during the day, while meat is only for dinner. According to the Zhuang minority, this can keep diseases and misfortune at bay. In addition, a series of traditional rules must be observed on this day. People are not allowed to use scissors in order to prevent family quarrels; cleaning is prohibited so as to avoid property loss; lending is forbidden so as to keep family wealth; animal killing is also forbidden.

On the second day of Spring Festival, people start to pay visits to their friends and relatives. Gifts in hand, a married daughter should return to her parents’ house with her husband and children. On this occasion, sisters that haven’t seen each other for a long time gather together to share their life experiences.

Traditionally, the Zhuang minority celebrates the entire first month of the lunar New Year. Throughout the month, people dance to the beat of drums, perform lion dances, sing songs and watch folk plays.

The festival falls on the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month, which conveys a sense of praying for a productive new year. Throughout its long agricultural history, the Zhuang minority has been subsisting on land, resulting in a popular worship of the Land God. Land temples have been established in all the villages in order to offer sacrifices to the Land God. Perceived as a regional patron, the Land God can guarantee a good harvest of agricultural products and protect the villages from the attacks of wild beasts. On the day of the festival, households offer chicken and pork meat as sacrifices to the Land God, hoping to embrace a fertile, energetic and peaceful life.

The day of the Flower Goddess

The festival falls on the 2nd or the 19th day of the 2nd lunar month, and is a tradition of the Zhuang minority in Ningming, Longzhou, Guangxi Province.

According to legend, the Flower Goddess entered the earth on this day and rested on the strong, flame-red kapok tree, protecting a blossoming and tranquil world. It is said that the Goddess cares for human fertility and children’s safety. Therefore, a newborn of a Zhuang minority family will be accompanied by a Goddess tablet decorated with wild flowers. On the 1st or 15th day of each lunar month, incenses are burned to worship the Goddess. On the 29th day of the 2nd lunar month, a grand sacrifice will take place where married women are tied to their sisters and pray for fertility and healthy babies.

The festival is celebrated in a place with high kapok trees, attracting young men and women from across the region. Wearing splendid national attire, they bring food and gifts and sing love songs to their beloved. As the festival reaches its climax, numerous embroidered balls with red ribbons will fly like Cupid’s arrow to their lovers, creating a spectacular rainbow-effect in the sky.

March

Singing Festival

The festival falls on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month, when tents are pitched on open space near the villages to welcome singers from miles away to stay during the 2-3 days. Single young men and women flock to the gathering and display their singing talent, hoping to find a life-partner. As part of the festival, two entertainments may catch your eye. One is throwing embroidered balls, through which young couples start courting. Another one is bumping colored eggs, which also expresses love and adoration.

In addition, the festival also serves as a trade fair as vendors provide food and drinks for the tourists, and businessmen get deals done. In 1985, the festival was authorized as the National Art Festival of Guangxi Province and recognized as a gala to advocate national culture.

April

Mud-splashing Festival

This festival is held during the season of seeds transplantation, when young women in the fields splash mud at male passers-by so as to persuade them into doing the farm work. According to one legend, a married man indulged in entertainment and didn’t come back home even when his wife was in desperate need in the field. One day, he passed by the field, ignoring his wife completely, who was busy with farm work with other girls. Pretending to be playing around, the girls covered him entirely in mud. Enlightened by this experience, he began to realize the error of his ways and joined the farm work with his wife. In the end, the family achieved a bumper harvest.

May

The day of “King Medicine”

This festival falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, and involves different activities among the Zhuang minority in different regions. In some areas, people bathe with medical herbs collected from the mountains to keep their skin clean and bright; in other places, a special herb market will be held. In addition, families make Zhongzi (glutinous rice), prepare vinegar, burn orange peels and hang wormwood in front of their doors so as to ward off evil spirits.

June

The Hero Day

This festival falls on the 6th day of the 6th lunar month, when people offer sacrifices such as chicken, duck and colorful glutinous rice to Nong Zhigao, a general who smashed his enemies in the Song dynasty. Though prohibited by the emperor, who resented Nong, commemoration has been held since then to pay tribute to the national hero.

July

The Day of Ancestor Worship

This festival falls on the 14th day of the 7th lunar month, when people offer sacrifices to Buluotuo, the first ancestor of the Zhuang minority. In addition, people mourn the deceased by providing them with food and burning paper accessories both at home and by the rivers, which carry the ashes away. In addition, married daughters must return to their parents’ houses to participate in the ritual. However, they are not allowed to stay there and must go back home.

August

The Mid-autumn Festival

People celebrate this festival with mooncakes and pastries. Traditionally, each household makes 11 pastries, representing the 11 moons of ancient lore. The pastries are either untouched or eaten except for the last one, which symbolizes the moon in the sky. Worship Food such as mooncakes, pomelos, peanuts and taros are made in round shapes in order to observe the auspicious occasion.

September

The Double Ninth Day

Designed to honor the older members of the community, this festival is complementary to their birthday celebrations. On that day, the son should give a haircut to his parents and help them put on new clothes, whereas the married daughter should come back with chicken and rice to supplement their diet. At dinner, children should feed the aged first before they help themselves, thus showing respect for them.

October

The Harvesting Day

During the harvest season, people offer chicken, fish and glutinous rice to express their gratitude to their ancestors and gods.

December

Farewell to the Kitchen God

December 23rd marks the traditional Zhuang minority festival to say farewell to the Kitchen God, the deity who oversees the moral character of each household. On this day, the God returns to Heaven to report on the family's conduct over the past year. Therefore, people offer sacrifices in a bid to please the God and pray for a peaceful and blissful life for their family members. Among the sacrifices, a rooster serves as the rider to assist the God back to Heaven. The Kitchen God is then welcomed back on the Eve of Lunar New Year. Each household takes this opportunity to renovate their kitchens and clean their houses. After the festival, people begin to make thorough preparations for the upcoming spring festival.