Miao people celebrate traditional festival in Fenghuang of Hunan

The 2022 China Fenghuang Silver Culture Festival and the Miao Song Festival were held at Heku Town of Fenghuang, a county of Hunan Province, on July 4.

The festival, also known as "Valentine's Day of the Miao," brought together over 30,000 people of the Miao ethnic group from Fenghuang, Huayuan, Jishou and Baojing of Hunan, Songtao of Guizhou and Xiushan of Chongqing. Eight priests of the Miao ethnic group performed traditional rituals to convey their gratitude to nature for its benevolence.

Dressed in colorful costumes and silver accessories, people of the Miao ethnic group celebrated the festival with drums and dance.

Over 30 students from a Fenghuang-based school, which teaches both academic courses and martial arts, performed traditional martial arts of the Miao ethnic group.

Long Xian'e, a famous singer of the Miao ethnic group, also attended the celebration of the festival and sang a traditional Miao-style song. A food festival and basketball competition of the Miao ethnic group were simultaneously held on the sidelines of the festival.

The China Fenghuang Silver Culture Festival and the Miao Song Festival, which are celebrated on the sixth day of the sixth month on the lunar calendar, have fully incorporated various types of performing arts and programs and become a key platform for people of all ethnic groups in the border regions of Hunan and Guizhou to carry forward traditional culture and deepen cultural exchanges.