Nu Xiannv Festival
01 · Historical Records
There are two accounts of the origin of the Nu people's Fairy Festival: one traces it to primitive worship, and the other regards it as a surviving custom from the early matrilineal clan society of the Nu, which held women in honor.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Nu people's Fairy Festival, also known as the 'Flower Festival,' is observed in the Nu communities of Bingzhongluo Township, Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. It is held on the 15th day of the third lunar month each year and lasts three days. The celebrations fall into three main categories: sacrificial rites at the Fairy Cave to receive the holy water, songs and dances to pray for blessings, and athletic contests. The Nu people believe in fairies and pray to them for peace and safety. In memory of the legendary fairy girl Arong, on the 15th day of the third lunar month of the year after her death, people held memorial rites, which gradually developed into the custom of the Fairy Festival. The chief officiant recites a blessing, and everyone offers tribute orally. As times have changed, the rites of worshipping the fairies have gradually faded, and blessing-seeking songs and dances together with athletic contests have become the main activities of the festival.
Rite at the Fairy Maiden Cave
The opening rite: an altar is set before the cave, the officiant recites blessings and each household offers grain and wine by word of mouth.
Welcoming the sacred water
Water is taken from the cave and distributed along the way to every household, each family receiving a share to take home.
The officiant's recitation
Led by a respected village elder, the recitation sets the order of offerings and carries the prayers of the whole village.
Songs and dances for blessing
Singing and dancing for two days, largely improvised and reflecting what the people see and feel that day.
Sports contests
Wrestling, archery and ball games between villages on the slopes and riverbanks, with wine and food exchanged afterwards.
The three-day course and its revival
Held on the fifteenth day of the third lunar month for three days, it was interrupted for many years and has since been revived by local artists.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Fairy Festival centers on Bingzhongluo Township. In the high mountains and deep valleys where the Nu people live in compact communities, the villages are built along the slopes, and the sacrifices take place on open ground in front of the cave or outside the stockade. Of the three days, the first carries the most weight: the chief officiant recites a blessing, and each household offers tribute orally in proportion to the number of people in the family; the household offering the most grain is regarded by its neighbors as having prosperous days. From the second day the rites relax: blessing-seeking songs and dances and athletic contests take up most of the time, and during these two days villages visit relatives and compete in song and dance with one another, dissolving the atmosphere of sacrifice into everyday intercourse. The festival's revival was not late either: after many years of interruption it was held again, and now of the three days sacrifice occupies only one, the other two being given over to song, dance and contests.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The social basis of the Nu people's Fairy Festival is very broad. It reflects the consciousness of primitive religion, especially nature worship and procreation worship, together with the influence of Tibetan Buddhist culture, and is of important value to the transmission of traditional Nu culture. The Nu people are one of China's ethnic minorities with a small population living across national borders, and their traditional culture is highly susceptible to outside influences. The transmission of the Fairy Festival was once interrupted, and it was only restored after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee. Li Hanliang (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Nu ethnicity, born in August 1955, a native of Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. At the age of fifteen he studied the folk ritual procedures of the Nu Fairy Festival under the village's veteran artists Daluo and Lanshe, and studied Nu folk songs and instrumental performance under Kelai and his mother Maria. Through study and practice, he mastered the ritual procedures and sacrificial songs of the folk rites of the Nu Fairy Festival. He also compiled and published works such as 'Bingzhongluo Anu Folk Songs.' He has hosted the Fairy Festival in the Bingzhongluo area and actively carried out skill transmission activities. He is a representative inheritor of the Nu Fairy Festival, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item from the fifth national-level batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Hanliang 05-2979
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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