The Miao Flower Picking Festival is an ancient folk custom that combines prayer, sacrifice, festival celebration, and love. It is mainly distributed in Huashiban Village, Baoji Yi and Miao Township, Yuanshepeng Miao and Yi Township, and surrounding Miao settlements in Machang Township, Pan County. There are many branches of the Miao ethnic group, and the flower picking festival varies according to their branches. The "Flower Miao" Flower Picking Festival in Huashiban Village, Machang Township is unique. Machang Township is located in the southeast of Pan County and belongs to the karst landform. It is 48 kilometers away from Chengguan Town, Pan County, and 95 kilometers away from Hongguo, the seat of Pan County Government. It is adjacent to Sanbanqiao Town, Pu'an County, Qianxinan Prefecture in the east, Banqiao Town in the west, Yingwu Township in the north, Zhudong Township and Laochang Town in the south. The total area of the township is 109.35 square kilometers, with an average altitude of 1,700 meters. Huashiban Village has a total population of more than 1,000 people, of which 96% are Miao. The Miao culture in the village is rich and colorful, and there is a large tube flute, which is known as a living fossil of the national folk double bass instrument. The Miao people migrated frequently in history, lived in scattered areas, and had many branches. The origin of the Miao people in Pan County is closely related to the ancient "Jiuli", "Sanmiao" and "Nanman". They were the Miao people in Chengbu and Wugang, Hunan, who were led by Hu Dahai to garrison in western Guizhou during the early Ming Dynasty. Their descendants live in Gesuo, Baoji, Shepeng and other places in Pan County, as well as Shuangxi and Changzhai in Liuzhi Special District. Some Miao people migrated from Dongting Lake to Leigong Mountain on the border of Hunan and Guizhou during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, and then migrated from Leigong Mountain to western Guizhou. Their descendants settled in Xinchang, Duoque, Yangchang, Jingkou, Niupo in Liuzhi Special District and Liuguan, Yangchang, Machang and other towns in Pan County. Legend has it that 300 years ago, due to war, the number of Miao people gradually decreased. In order to avoid the invasion of Han people, Miao compatriots migrated from Moshi Hall, Anlong, Guanling, Xingyi, Guangxi and other places to the deep mountains in Pan County to make a living by hunting. For a long time, the Miao people hoped that their people would grow like trees with luxuriant branches and leaves and evergreen all year round. They placed their spirit and hope on trees, worshipped them, and prayed that flowers and trees could help realize their wishes. Every time the Miao people moved to a place to live, they would choose a specific place around and erect a tree there every year, with flowers of various colors tied on the tree, which was called the Caihua Tree. On the first, second, third, and fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year, the whole village would gather together, erect the Caihua Tree to offer sacrifices and pray, and celebrate together by singing folk songs, dancing the Lusheng dance, blowing wooden leaves, straight flute, big tube flute, playing mouth strings, and playing erhu. Later, it gradually evolved into a festival for young men and women to talk about love, show their talents and seek partners; the elderly drink and chat, and exchange feelings. The Miao people took this opportunity to sing their voices, show their skills and wisdom with costumes, and dance to express their vision of a better life in the future and their expectations for a new life. The Flower Picking Festival is an ancient custom of the Miao people. It is a unique folk festival of the Miao people that combines sacrifice, celebration and communication. The entire activity program revolves around flowers and trees. The Flower Picking Festival is a good opportunity for young men and women to talk about love, and it is also an occasion for Miao women to show off their costumes. On the first, second, third and fifteenth day of the first lunar month, they all gather in front of the local Flower Picking Cave. The Flower Picking Cave is a semicircular arch with a north-facing entrance, a span of 14 meters and a height of 3 meters. There is a stalactite about 2.5 meters high on the left side of the cave entrance. From a distance, it looks like a Miao girl welcoming guests from afar in front of the cave. The cave is more than 60 meters deep and has three natural levels. The area decreases layer by layer. The second layer is slightly higher, like a natural stage. There is a stalactite 3 meters high on the side of the stage. Ceremonies such as selecting flower trees, offering sacrifices to trees, cutting trees, making up flower trees, setting up flower trees, offering sacrifices to flower trees, and sending flower trees are held. Selecting a flower tree: Generally, it should be a green tree or fir tree (evergreen all year round) with luxuriant branches and leaves, good growth, and a single tree, which symbolizes long-term success, good luck, love between husband and wife, long-lasting feelings, prosperous offspring, and abundant flowers and fruits. Offering sacrifices to trees and cutting down trees: The village elder (Miao language: Youzi'ao) says "four sentences" (auspicious words: four words in one sentence, a total of four sentences), and then cuts the tree three times after offering sacrifices with wine and chicken next to the flower tree. Then two young people cut the tree down. Amid the roar of firecrackers, two young people lead the way with swords and sticks, and two reed pipe players play music. Everyone gathers and carries the flower tree to the front of the flower picking cave and circles the field three times. Make up the flower tree: Girls tie 36 paper flowers on the tree, each flower symbolizes a wish, and the largest red flower on the top of the tree symbolizes children; in addition, a 6-foot red cloth is wrapped around the tree, indicating that the days are getting more prosperous and longer. Standing on the Flower Tree: After the village elder calculates an auspicious time, stand at the entrance of the cave, face north, with the tree root facing left. The village elder stands on the table and says four sentences (the general meaning is that the village elder asks: Are the Miao people prosperous? The people below answer: prosperous!), and the tribesmen plant the tree in a pre-dug pit amid the sound of firecrackers. Offering sacrifices to the Flower Tree: First kill a rooster, use the chicken blood to offer sacrifices to the tree, and the village elder recites the formula; then offer wine, and young men and women sing a toast song; then a young man toasts a young woman and asks her to sing the song of standing on the flower tree (the general meaning of the lyrics is: stand on a tree, the tree has four corners, there are four roots on the four corners, there are flowers and fruits on the tree, as bright as stars, we carry pots to pour wine for guests, and welcome guests from afar). The village elder and the host sit under the tree, and dozens of pairs of Lusheng players begin to dance the Lusheng dance around the flower tree (called "Liyincuo" in Miao language). The Lusheng players can go back to rest under the flower tree and use a thin bamboo tube to suck a breath of rice wine in front of the wine jar. During the flower tree worship, the Miao people have a variety of activities: compare clothing, see whose daughter's flowery dress is the best, with harmonious colors and patterns, and exquisite craftsmanship. Compare food, see whose rice is fragrant and meat is plump, and the family with fragrant rice and plump meat is praised as hardworking. Compare Lusheng dance, see who blows the elegant tune, the rhythm is brisk, and whose dance steps are coordinated and the movements are beautiful. The flower tree also provides an opportunity and place for young Miao men and women to talk about love. He (she) uses a local telephone (a long line is connected between two bamboo tubes, and a layer of snake skin is covered on the bottom of the bamboo tube), plays Lusheng, plays mouth strings, blows wooden leaves, sings folk songs, etc. Young people find their sweethearts, and sing their hearts out in groups and pairs. Some grab the flower backs, ask for tokens, and laugh and play. The more flowered backs a young man grabs, the more honor he will have. A young woman will wear all the flowered backs and take them off one by one to the young men she thinks she can give them to, until the last flowered back is left. At dawn in the east, the flowered backs will be returned to each girl safely. Of course, there are many people who are lonely and have no goals or lovers. They are not willing to be outdone. The sound of "shouting and singing" rises, rippling throughout the mountains and fields, and the silent earth is boiling. Sending the flower tree (called "Sangcuo" in Miao language): After worship, firecrackers are set off; generally, the village elder decides to send the flower tree to the family who established the tree. The men of the family who established the tree carry the new straps taken from the flower tree, and the others carry the largest red flower on the top of the tree (representing children), money and rice on a plate. The man carrying the straps walks and imitates the crying of a baby, and sends them all the way; when they arrive at the door, the family who established the tree will greet them, and the women of the family will take the straps off and put them in a clean or new quilt, which means giving birth to a fat baby and bringing food and money to his family next year. There are also ways to send the flower tree to a place where it is not trampled by people and animals or to a cave. After sending the flower tree, the sender will chant something, which means: send the flower tree to the stone corner, so that it will grow quickly and bloom quickly. After sending the flower tree to the big cave, it will bear flowers and fruits to protect the Miao family. There is a rule in the Miao Flower Picking Festival: the people will not disperse until the flower tree falls; the people will move with the flower tree. Sending the flower tree is the end of the Flower Picking Festival, and the whole activity is over. The Flower Picking Festival is a traditional folk custom of the Miao compatriots in Machang Township that combines prayer, sacrifice, festival celebration, and love. Among them, the song and dance are the crystallization of the collective creation of the Miao people after thousands of trials and tribulations, and have a wide range of mass and folk inheritance. Folk songs have been passed down from generation to generation in the mouths of the Miao people like flowing water, showing the Miao people's worship of nature, reflecting the harmony between man and nature, and expressing the Miao people's wish to pray for blessings, ward off disasters, and pray for peace and good fortune. The Flower Picking Festival has evolved from a single prayer activity to a mass entertainment activity for celebration and young people to talk about love and show their talents, and it also has a wide range of mass appeal. The Flower Picking Festival carries a large number of folk customs and has long attracted the attention of folk experts and scholars. At the same time, it is a bond for emotional communication among the Miao people. The dances, songs, and instrumental music in the Flower Picking Festival have high artistic and research value. The sacrificial culture, celebrations, and unique wedding customs in the Flower Picking Festival play a very important role in inheriting the Miao culture. The Flower Picking Festival has become the cultural symbol of the "Flower Miao" branch. With the acceleration of the modernization process, the customs of the Miao Flower Picking Festival and folk beliefs have gradually faded. Most young people go out to work, their value orientation has changed, and they pursue fashion and entertainment. The enthusiasm for appreciating and passing on national culture is being lost. Traditional etiquette and customs are gradually lost, and most folk art forms have no successors, making the customs of the Flower Picking Festival gradually fade out of people's lives and on the verge of being lost. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)