Bouyei “sanyuesan”
01 · Historical Records
Wangmo's March Third Festival falls on the third day of the third lunar month, right at the juncture when spring plowing is about to spread out, spring drought has not yet receded, and mosquitoes, flies, and pests are beginning to stir; the purpose of the sacrifices is therefore quite explicit: to avert disaster, pray for blessings, pray for rain, and pray for stability. If the county town's market day falls on a Wednesday, the town is nearly emptied of people, and streams of people carrying wine, meat, and glutinous rice up the mountain stretch from the streets all the way to the ridge tops; only after returning from the ancestor sacrifices do the banquets and antiphonal singing begin. That the festival relies so heavily on the mountain forests and on seasonal timing shows that its center of gravity has always lain in the next year's harvest; entertainment is merely the aftermath of sacrifice.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The 'March Third' of the Buyi people in Wangmo is the most solemn festival of the local year; if the festival day happens to fall on a Sunday, the small county town presents the spectacle of a town emptied of people, everyone having gone into the mountains to sacrifice to the mountain god and to their own ancestors. From this one can see the position that 'March Third' holds among the Buyi people. On 'March Third,' each household prepares several dozen jin of wine and meat and loads of glutinous rice, goes up the mountain to sacrifice to the ancestors, entertains relatives and friends in the afternoon, and after the wine and food, men and women sing antiphonal songs to one another. On the eve of the festival, every Buyi household prepares five-color rice, and the young women also prepare embroidered balls. Villagers gather yellow rice flowers, maple leaves, and purple fuji vine, soak glutinous rice in the juices of these plants, and make red, yellow, black, purple, and white five-color flower rice; the juices of these plants only produce the best colors during the Qingming period of the third lunar month. The Buyi people believe that eating this five-color flower rice will bring a flourishing family and strong bodies. The embroidered ball is a token by which young men and women convey affection during 'March Third'; it is a silk handicraft rushed into completion by the young women before the festival, each one exquisitely made, with twelve petals joined into a sphere, each petal representing one month of the year and embroidered with that month's flowers. Some embroidered balls are made square, polygonal, and so on, symbolizing pure love. Mountain-song antiphonal singing usually begins with young men taking the initiative to sing 'touring songs,' observing and probing the other party; when they meet a suitable partner, they sing 'meeting songs' and 'invitation songs.' If the woman is interested, she responds. The young man then sings 'inquiring songs'; once affection has grown between them, he sings 'love songs' and 'friendship songs.' The lyrics are all improvised, spoken straight out, fitting the feeling and the scene. Song is a red thread drawing two hearts together; if the young woman finds the young man before her satisfactory in both talent and singing, she quietly takes the embroidered ball from her bosom and gives it to the object of her affection when no one is looking, and he reciprocates with a handkerchief, towel, or the like; the singing then grows sweeter still, and the two plight their troth.
Climbing the hill to worship the ancestors
Households carry tens of jin of meat and wine and shoulder loads of sticky rice up the mountain, make their offerings before the ancestors, then descend to feast.
Dyeing the five-coloured rice
Yellow-blossom, maple and rattan are gathered on the eve and their juice dyes the rice red, yellow, black, purple and white before steaming.
From the wandering song to the courtship song
The exchange follows a fixed ladder: a young man opens with the wandering song, then greeting and invitation, and only if she accepts may courtship and troth songs follow.
Passing the embroidered ball
A girl who has made her choice slips the ball to her chosen one, who answers with a handkerchief or towel, and the betrothal is sealed in song.
Antiphonal singing after the feast
The singing follows worship and feasting; lyrics are improvised to fit the moment, and song after song draws two villages together till nightfall.
The festival emptying the county town
When the third falls on a Sunday the town empties out, its people climbing the hills with offerings, and both the slope and the street hum with activity.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The March Third Festival of the Buyi in Wangmo has three refinements rarely seen elsewhere: first, going up the mountain — only when people are on the mountain are they observing the festival, and only when both the mountain sacrifice and the ancestor sacrifice are completed may they come down; second, dyeing the rice — the five-color flower rice must use freshly gathered mountain plants dyed on the spot, and if the color does not reach its proper shade it does not count; third, song dueling — the antiphonal singing has a set sequence of song types that advances in order, and when young men and women sing to each other through the evening, their talk goes from stranger to familiar. Conveying affection through antiphonal song, pledging love with the embroidered ball, and honoring the gods with five-color rice: these three threads run in parallel on the same day.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The transmission pressure on this festival falls mainly in two places: first, the mountain plants used for the five-color rice must be freshly gathered around Qingming, and if the people gathering materials dwindle and the elders who know how to identify the plants dwindle, this craft will be cut off; second, the song repertoire of the antiphonal singing and the ability to improvise lyrics — young people sing with liveliness but cannot carry on the long narrative pieces. At present the county seat and the villages still gather people through activity formats, but what must be held on to are the internal skills of dyeing and antiphonal singing, not merely the lively scenes.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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