The "Ox King Festival" is one of the traditional festivals of the Miao people in Enshi Prefecture. It was once widely popular in the Miao settlements, and is now mainly popular in the Youshui River Basin in Laifeng. In other places, there are only festival customs. The Ox King Festival is usually held on the eighth or eighteenth day of the fourth lunar month, also known as "April Eight". Its festival activities are mainly sacrificial activities to thank the oxen for farming, and there are other traditional cultural performances such as climbing the knife ladder and folk song duets. The more widely circulated legend of the "Ox King Festival" is that in a battle, the Miao soldiers were defeated in the heavy rain and retreated to a surging river. At the critical moment, a buffalo swam over from the other side of the river. The soldiers dragged the buffalo's tail to the other side of the river, and then worshipped the buffalo as a sacred cow. This day happened to be the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, so the "Ox King Festival" was held every year on this day to thank the sacred cow for saving their lives. The main purpose of the Miao people holding the Ox King Festival is to thank the oxen for farming. In essence, it is an agricultural sacrificial festival. When the Laifeng Miao people celebrate the "Ox King Festival", they let the oxen rest for a day and select a buffalo to put on a big red flower. Then the Tu teacher (a religious professional who presides over religious sacrificial activities) presides over the sacrificial ceremony. One man pries the mouth of the ox open, and another man feeds the oxen with eggs and white wine prepared in advance. In 2000, with the approval of the Enshi Prefecture People's Government, the "Ox King Festival" was determined as one of the four major ethnic festivals in Enshi Prefecture. The Origin of the Ox King Festival (I) It is said that the Tujia people were defeated in a battle with foreign tribes on April 18th of a certain year and retreated to the riverside, blocking their way. A buffalo happened to swim from the opposite bank, and the Tujia people swam across the river with the help of the buffalo's tail and were saved. From then on, the ox was called the Ox King Bodhisattva. The 18th day of the fourth lunar month became the Ox King Festival. (II) It is said that on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the divine ox planted grain seeds for the ancestors of the Miao people, so that the ancestors could eat rice from then on. From then on, in order to thank the sacred cow, people not only did not use oxen for farming and fed them delicious food on the festival day, but also built a special "Ox King Temple" and held grand sacrificial activities. The Ox King Festival is essentially an agricultural sacrificial activity, the purpose of which is to thank the cow for its farming grace. Cows are closely related to people's survival and development. The Ox King Festival has evolved into a common traditional festival for the Tujia and Miao people. Today, the Ox King Festival has a strong national style and contemporary flavor, with grand folk art performances and competitions, as well as large-scale economic and trade exchange activities. The lyrics of the Ox Song are "Listen to me, everyone. The most miserable of all animals is the ox. It works hard in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and cultivates in all seasons to get a full harvest... I advise everyone to love oxen, so that both people and animals will prosper and live happily."