Longlin Miao Jumping Festival

Guangxi
🎧  Listen to Introduction

The fourth to fifteenth day of the lunar calendar every year is the jumping season of the Miao people, which is also the unique and grandest folk traditional festival of the Miao people living in the mountainous area of western Guangxi. The time and place of jumping every year have been fixed throughout history. In Longlin, there are Dongwang, Ganba, Changfa in Changfa Township, Xiaode'e, Nongza, Shuiluodong, Dashuijing in De'e, Gantang in Longhuo Township, etc., all of which are traditional jumping places. "Dragon Day" is held in this place, and "Snake Day" is held in that place. People remember it clearly. At that time, people of all ethnic groups from dozens of miles around or even farther places will come to "jump to jump". Some light torches and climb mountains and ridges, and some carry bedding and walk for several days to come. Especially the Miao people, they will not miss this annual event of their ethnic group, and many families and villages will go out in full force. The night before, they steamed noodles, cooked bacon and chili bones, prepared food for the slope-climbing meeting, and dressed up before dawn, wearing the latest and most gorgeous clothes. Especially unmarried young men and women, they dressed themselves up generously and appropriately, determined to show their charm on the field and choose their ideal sweetheart. Especially the young men are eager to try, because in addition to making a name for themselves on the slope field, they also have a tough competitive duel, that is, climbing the pole and jumping the high-difficulty Lusheng dance. For generations, the kind-hearted "Poji" and "Ponai" have erected a "slope pole" more than three meters high in the slope field early, with a piece of bacon and a gourd of corn wine hanging on the top of the pole. At that time, many young men will hold a pole climbing competition. The climbers must climb to the top of the slope pole as agilely as monkeys, take down the wine and bacon, and then climb down lightly. Then, they have to participate in the Lusheng dance competition. This Lusheng dance is not something that ordinary people can "pass", because "Poji" and "Ponai" planted three wooden stakes more than one meter high and a large iron pot on the lawn while planting the slope pole. On this day, they filled the large iron pot with water, boiled the water, and placed a two-inch wide peach wood shoulder pole across the mouth of the iron pot. At that time, the Lusheng players were first required to dance on the three wooden stakes while playing the Lusheng, which the Miao people called "three pot stakes". Secondly, the Lusheng players had to jump on the shoulder pole at the mouth of the iron pot with a bowl of water wine, play and dance, and make sure that the music and singing continued, the wine bowl did not fall, and the dance steps were not chaotic. This is the fatal "dragon crossing the sea" level! It should be noted that to complete these difficult skills, it is impossible without this hard ability. Therefore, the Miao people have always called those who can successfully pass these levels ("Akayou" Miao transliteration is "Chong Hanzi"), which means "the most capable person" or "awesome hero"! It goes without saying that whoever wins the honor of "Akayou" will not only win the respect and love of the whole family, tribesmen and even the entire Miao people, but also win the admiration and pursuit of many Goucai (Miao language: girls). The Miao Tiaopo Festival has a long history. "Tiaopo" is called "Goudao" in Miao language, which means "playing on the slope" or "playing with the slope"; it is also called "Dougeng", which means "circling the slope pole". Although its names are different, or its activities are different due to different regions and traditional customs, it is deeply loved by people of all ethnic groups with its unique charm. Especially today when material life and material civilization are relatively rich, Tiaopo Festival still attracts batches of Chinese and foreign guests with its strong national characteristics and charming legendary colors.

Intangible culture related to the heritage

China tourist attractions related to the heritage