Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsEerduosishietuokeqianqi, Inner MongoliaBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In 1932, the local authorities built a small temple the size of half a room at Yushu Hao (Elm Tree Trench) specifically for sacrificial activities.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Sixty Elm Trees Festival is a folk activity circulating in Otog Front Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, whose main contents are the worship of elm trees, reverence for life, and the pursuit of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. At Bayan Xili Gacha, Chengchuan Town, Otog Front Banner, there is a place called Yushu Hao; the "trench" here, covering some ten square kilometers, is filled with ancient elm trees, and every year on the third day of the fifth lunar month, clear "elm springs" overflow from tree holes of all sizes for people to taste freely. At the northern end of the trench stands the "Sixty Elm Trees Temple." The dozens of ancient elms around the temple lean forward, raise their heads, or lie at angles; their bark is gray-black, their trunks are cracked, their gnarled branches stretch out sideways, and some are so thick that several people are needed to embrace them, their canopies shading a hundred square meters or more — each in a different posture, vigorous, old, and plain. Every year on the third day of the fifth lunar month, the Sixty Elm Trees Festival is held at Yushu Hao. Legend has it that, driven by successive wars and severe drought to leave their homeland, an old couple buried an elm seed here; the old man's sincerity moved the gods, and this elm seed miraculously took root and sprouted, growing into a towering tree. Thereafter, this "divine elm" scattered elm seeds every year, multiplying its descendants until there were sixty trees and then thousands upon thousands. Many merchants rested and cooked here, marveling at the vitality of this grove of ancient elms, which could shelter them from wind and rain and keep them safe; believing the ancient elms must possess divine power, they spontaneously organized sacrificial activities, which gradually spread to and were transmitted through the surrounding areas. Later, on the third day of the fifth lunar month each year, tens of thousands of people of various ethnic groups from neighboring areas such as Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia came here in festive dress; farmers and herders brought offerings such as whole sheep backs, dairy foods, cakes, and white liquor, waiting to fulfill their vows to the Elm Immortal or to make donations. The Mongolian chief officiants tie colored silks on the trees and lead the crowd in kowtowing to the oldest elm. Recitations of scripture and praises, burning incense and cypress, sprinkling food, pouring libations of wine around the trees, and presenting livestock and leading the sacrificial animal — these rituals, one after another, have become a culture in themselves, and the people are filled with reverence for the "ancient elms."

The elm grove sacrifice on the third of the fifth month

On the third day of the fifth lunar month tens of thousands of people from Shaanxi, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia gather at the elm hollow with offerings to fulfil vows to the tree spirit.

Tying coloured silk and bowing before the oldest elm

The Mongolian officiants tie coloured silk to the trunk, lead the crowd in bowing to the oldest elm, and then perform the fixed sequence of chanting, incense burning, libations and animal offerings.

The legend of the first elm pod

Local legend explains the grove through an old couple burying an elm pod that sprouted into a towering tree, tying the sacrifice to war, drought and miracle.

The place-name memory of Zhuhe post station

Another account locates the sacred site on an old post road, its name Zhuhe deriving from the cooking pits once dug along the ground.

Drinking the elm spring from the tree hollows

Each year clear elm spring wells up from hollows of many sizes and is drunk on the spot, keeping the grove alive between sacrifices.

From travellers' resting to spontaneous offerings

Merchants resting under the trees began offering sacrifices of their own accord, and the practice spread outward from that single spot.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Another account holds that the site of Yushu Hao was an ancient post station and post road, and that the local place name Zhuhe (formerly Zhuhe Sumu) derives from the fact that the ground was pitted with "hearths." The Sixty Elm Trees Festival highlights the local people's worship of vital force, their reverence for nature, their pursuit of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and their simple awareness of and thinking about protecting the ecological environment.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

This activity has been transmitted for at least two hundred years. This heritage project is an effective vehicle for educating farmers and herders in ecological protection and the building of an ecological civilization, and is also a rare living fossil for the study of Mongolian history and culture, ecological culture, and folk culture.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Folk Beliefs and Customs (Eerduosishietuokeqianqi, Inner Mongolia) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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