The annual traditional Miao festival “Liuyueliu”, which falls on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, was held in Luxi County and Fenghuang County on July 11.
In Liangjiatan Village, Xixi Town, Luxi County, over 10,000 people from Jishou City, Luxi County, and Guzhang County, dressed in festive costumes, participated in the festival. Miao door-blocking wine, folk songs, bamboo pole dances, Miao cross-stitch songs and dances, and Miao tiaoxiang dances were staged in turns.
On the early morning of the day, villagers blew their horns, sang folk songs, and offered door-blocking wine at the entrance of the village to welcome guests from neighboring counties and villages. Old, middle-aged, and young folk singers sang songs with strong ethnic characteristics to praise the rapid development of Miao villages and express their love for their hometowns.
At 12 o’clock, they performed Miao tiaoxiang dance to pray for good weather, abundant harvests, and national prosperity and peace. Ancestral worship is always an opening celebration for the festival. It is said that, the Miao people in Xiangxi have had a tradition of singing songs in memory of their ancestor Qin Hou since the sixth day of the sixth lunar month in the fourth year during Emperor Hongwu’s reign of the Ming Dynasty.
Besides, people visit relatives and friends and sing antiphonal songs on the day. Young Miao men and girls express their longing for love through antiphonal songs in the woods, on the slopes of mountains and by the streams.
The “Liuyueliu” Miao cultural activities in Heku Town and Luochaojing Town of Fenghuang County attracted tens of thousands of Miao people and tourists from the Hunan-Guizhou border area, celebrating the traditional festival with unique Miao songs and dances, and presenting a colorful original ecological folk cultural feast for guests.
Dressed in colorful ethnic costumes, more than a thousand Miao people paraded in Hong’an Community of Heku Town. Various programs like authentic ethnic dances, melodious Miao songs, humorous and vivid “monkey drums”, and folk stunt shows were staged, receiving loud applauses from numerous tourists.
In addition, the long-table banquet pushed the event to a climax. Specialty foods such as Xiangxi yellow beef, duck with duck blood cakes, and rice tofu were served. The traditional Miao welcoming and toasting ceremony made guests immersed in Miao culture.
