|
|
|
| |
Minority Peoples' Festivals |
|
The minority peoples
have many more festivals than the predominant Han people. Take the
Miao people for example, according to incomplete statistics, they
have more than 650 festivals in a year. When all the 55 minorities
are put together, the number of their festivals come up to four digits.
The city of Kaili in the east of Guizhou Province, is known as the
"Home of Festivals". There are more than one hundred festivals
among its twenty-eight peoples. Every several miles, there must be
a fairground for festival celebrations. Among these festivals, more
than seventy are grand occasions, drawing visitors from far and wide.
Thus this city has become a favorite haunt of international tourists.
The major ones of the seventy-odd festivals are; the Miao People's
New Year, the Mountaineering Day at the Incense Burner Mountain, the
Lusheng Music Festival, the New Crop Festival, the Joyous Spring Festival,
the Young Maid's Festival, the Bull Fight Festival, the Horse Racing
Festival. . . .
Other famous minority festivals are: the Nadamu (pleasure) Festival
of the Mongolians, the Folk Song Festival at the Lotus Flower Mountain
in northwest China's Gansu Province (a joint festival of many ethnic
groups here), the Torch Festival among many minorities in China's
southwest, the March Fair Festival of the Baizu people in southwest
China's Yunnan Province, the Water Sprinkling Festival of the Thais
near Burma.
All these festivals are becoming increasingly multipurpose. They are
purposely bent and expanded to incorporate more and more modern elements.
They are no longer just windows of traditional cultures. They also
serve to promote economy, tourism and understanding between peoples. |
|
|
|
