Celebration of Spring Festival by Miao people in Xiangxi

The Miao people celebrate their own historical calendar. There are both monthly and yearly festivals in the Miao calendar. Miao people would show respect to the heaven, the Earth, families, masters, land, bridges, roads and trees in the celebration of festivals in the belief that all creatures have their own pattern of life.

Historically, Miao people had their own New Year, the most important festival for them, which often fell between the ninth month and the first month of the next year in accordance with the Miao calendar. People from different places celebrated the Miao New Year for different periods ranging from three to 15 days.

People of the Miao ethnic group in Xiangxi often held a sacrificial ceremony in front of the altar of heaven in the celebration of the Miao New Year in addition to visiting the altar of the Earth.
Miao people also had their own Minor New Year, which was different from the Minor New Year of the Han people in terms of both celebration time and manners. The Miao Minor New Year was in the first month of their lunar calendar. Miao people of different clans celebrated the Minor New Year at different times and in different places. For instance, those surnamed Wu celebrated in Gupo Village in Huayuan County, while those surnamed Long celebrated the festival in Muya Village and Aipo Village in Baojing County.

It was a conventional practice for the Miao people to discourage those with different family names from being present at their sacrificial ceremonies. Apart from closing their doors and staying at home, they could not cry or mimic the sounds of such animals as cats, dogs, chickens or ducks; if they did, misfortunes would befall them.

There were great differences between Miao people with different family names in the organization of their sacrificial ceremonies. For instance, the Shi and Long families often designated an elderly man to give his orders in the celebration of the New Year and arranged a boy to strike gongs and copy the voice of cocks at streets as a signal for them to talk with others, take part in plays, kick off visits to people with different family names, and allow married women to visit the home of their parents.

The Miao people in the Wuling Mountains weren't allowed by the government of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to celebrate their monthly and yearly festivals after the failure of their rebellion in the time of Emperor Qianlong (1711-99) and Emperor Jiaqing (1796-1820). Miao people in Guizhou were exempt from the punishment.

All Miao people restarted celebration of their own festivals, including the New Year, after the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 and the adoption of national policies to uphold ethnic equality and preserve traditional culture of all ethnic groups in the country.

Right now, the Miao Minor New Year is only known and celebrated by people of the Miao ethnic group at dozens of villages in Lyudongshan Town of Baojing County, though they no longer completely follow traditional customs. Miao people with the family names of Shi and Yang universally greet the festival on the third day of a year in the Miao calendar.

The Miao people in Xiangxi started to celebrate Spring Festival, also known as the New Year of the Han people, when the government of the Qing Dynasty abolished the long-standing Tusi system and directly appointed officials to govern the areas of ethnic minorities. Slightly different from the celebration of the Miao New Year and Minor New Year, celebrants are expected to hold sacrificial ceremonies for ancestors and gods, and refrain from sewing clothes, cleaning houses, or fetching water.

The practice of not sewing clothes is aimed at saving crops from pests in accordance with superstitious belief. In addition, they have to place herbal medicines inside dry rocks ahead of the Spring Festival.

Miao people often make a New Year visit to others on the fourth day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar. During the visit, young men and women of the Miao ethnic group stand by the roadside and sing Miao songs to their cousins with a different family name in hopes of receiving candies and other small gifts.