What traditional festivals do the Miao celebrate?

The Miao people have many traditional festivals, including the Miao New Year, Spring Festival, April 8th, Dragon Boat Festival, New Eating Festival, Autumn Festival, etc., among which the Miao New Year is the most grand. The Miao Year is equivalent to the Spring Festival of the Han people, usually held after autumn. On the morning of the festival, people place prepared delicacies on the stove next to the fire pit to worship their ancestors, and rub wine on the nose of the cow to show reward for their hard work for a year. Young men and women in costumes danced the hall dance. Except for historical festivals, most of them are held in the slack season after the autumn harvest or before the busy spring plowing. However, due to the influence of natural factors, social and clan differences, the traditional festivals of the Miao people have obvious regional characteristics and show different characteristics.

According to historical documents and word-of-mouth information of the Miao people, the ancestors of the Miao people first lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Their ancestors were Chi You. During the "Three Miao" era, they moved to the Jianghan Plain, and later due to wars and other reasons , gradually migrated southward and westward, entering the southwest mountainous areas and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some Miao people have immigrated to Southeast Asian countries, and in modern times they have migrated to Europe and the United States from these places.

The Miao people are an ancient nation with very distinctive national characteristics. They are scattered all over the world, mainly in In China's Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Qiong and other provinces and regions, as well as in Southeast Asia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries and regions. According to the data, the Miao ancestors first lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and their ancestor was Chi You. The Miao people not only have their own language, but also their own unique ethnic customs. So, what are the traditional festivals and customs of the Miao people? Generally speaking, Miao festivals are divided into five categories, namely: agricultural activity festivals, quality exchange festivals, men and women social love and mate selection festivals, sacrificial festivals, commemorative and celebratory festivals, etc. Let’s take a look at the festivals of the Miao people. They have more than one festival in each of the 12 months of the year.

1. Miao Festivals

1. January: The 1st to 15th day of the moving month (rat or child month) is the Wan Nian Festival, and the first child day is the Tiansui Festival. On this day, no Miao people will travel far. During the period from the 1st Chou Day to the 2nd Chou Day (2-14), the Miao people will visit relatives and friends, greet each other on the New Year, sing songs to each other, play with dragon lanterns and lions, etc. Wan Nian Jie is equivalent to the Spring Festival, with many customs and some festivals.

2. February: The first day of February is the Ox King Festival, which is a social gathering for men and women and the birthday of Buddha.

3. March: The first Chen day and the second Yin day in March are the Little Dragon Boat Festival and the Big Dragon Boat Festival respectively. The Little Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan.

4. April: The first day of April is the Dragon Subduing Festival (known as June 6 and June Festival in China) and the New Eating Festival (barley ripening).

5. May: The first day of May is the Xiaonian Festival (called the Seven Sisters in Miao language, namely the Big Dipper).

6. June: The second Yin day of June is the Duck Festival, and the second Chen day is the Autumn Festival.

7. July: The first Shen day in July is the Wine Festival (glutinous rice is harvested to brew sweet wine and rice wine).

8. August: August is the Festival of Sacrifice, with activities such as sacrificing cows, eating pigs, dancing incense, returning Nuo vows, and enlivening dragons to worship ancestors and souls.

9. September: Hunting Festival in September, choose a day to worship the three gods of Meishan and start hunting.

10. October: October 10th and noon are the Pig Soup Festival (killing New Year pigs), Kitchen God Festival (sacrifice to the Kitchen God), New Year’s Eve (New Year’s Eve, called Miao Ten in Chinese) New Year's Eve).

There are also many regional differences in the festivals and culture of the Miao tribes in different places. In any case, the Miao people are a very unique nation. There are many Miao people who are very curious. It is said that there are many beauties of the Miao people.

2. Miao customs

Among the many ethnic minorities in China, the Miao are relatively well-known. This ethnic group is widely distributed and its population is relatively large compared to other ethnic minorities. There are more. What are the traditional festivals and customs of the Miao people? Let’s talk about the unique customs and habits of the Miao people. There are many places with unique national characteristics, and some social systems are also very different from those of the Han people. 1. Social system. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Miao people's social systems were mainly the drum society system, the discussion system, and the elder management system. Generally speaking, the drum society system is an organization composed of a clan or several natural villages. The Yilang system refers to a regional village organization composed of families from different clans. Lilaozhi is the natural leader in a Miao village, and is usually held by a person with high moral character. ?

2. Diet.

The most distinctive eating habit of the Miao people is that they like to eat sour food. Almost every household makes various kinds of sour soup and sauerkraut.

3. Taboo. There is a very unique birth taboo among the Miao people, which is taboo on pregnant women meeting pregnant women, and taboo on pregnant women going to other mothers' homes, otherwise they will be considered to prolong the period of delivery. There are also taboos about farming. It is taboo to mention rats in the fields because they are afraid that they will ruin the crops if they hear them.