Bouyei “sanyuesan”
01 · Historical Records
The Buyi of Zhenfeng make March Third into a day for averting disaster. Around the third day of the third lunar month, spring drought is unbroken, mosquitoes, flies, and pests are stirring, and fires are frequent — precisely the juncture when farming is about to begin. The phrases 'avert disaster and pray for blessings, keep the village at peace, bring seasonable wind and rain, and grant abundant harvests' are spoken against concrete fears. Sacrificing to the mountain and worshipping the gods requires slaughtering pigs and cattle; sweeping the village requires dancing the straw dragon; and going up the mountain to 'hide from insects' is a way of avoiding the period when insects are most rampant. All three practices point to the same thing: first get past the critical juncture of the year's prospects, then go down to the fields to work.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The third day of the third lunar month is the traditional 'March Third' festival of the Buyi people, which has both ethnic and local characteristics. This is the important season when agricultural production is about to begin, spring drought is relatively severe, mosquitoes, flies, and pests are stirring, and fire accidents are relatively frequent. To 'avert disaster and pray for blessings, keep the village at peace, bring seasonable wind and rain, and grant abundant harvests,' the Buyi people of Zhenfeng, living on the banks of the Beipan River, hold corresponding sacrificial activities on the third day of the third lunar month. The activities mainly consist of dancing the straw dragon to sweep the village and drive away evil and disaster, slaughtering pigs and cattle to sacrifice to the mountain and worship the gods in prayer for rain, and going up the mountain to 'hide from insects' as a prayer for blessings, expressing the Buyi people's hopes for agricultural abundance and household safety. At the same time, 'March Third' is also a festival in which Buyi young men and women sing love songs antiphonally and seek spouses. The Buyi 'March Third' not only has the characteristics of a traditional agricultural festival but also bears the flavor of historical change; its cultural connotations are rich, carrying a great store of historical and cultural information, and it is an important bond of Buyi cultural identity and cultural exchange. With the development of the social economy, the Buyi 'March Third,' under the impact of modern culture, is facing a crisis of disappearance.
Worship at the mountain for rain
Pigs and cattle are killed and laid out on the slope to worship the mountain, so that the spring drought may break and the rain arrive on time.
Sweeping the village with the grass dragon
A dragon woven of straw is danced around the settlement to sweep away evil; being light and cheap it fits the dawn torches and gongs of the day.
Retreating up the hill from the insects
With insects stirring before the fields are sown, some people stay a few days in the hills out of their reach, then light incense at the shrine on returning.
Singing for courtship
After the rites the second half of the day goes to youths singing courtship songs, turning the prayer for a good harvest into a chance to look for a partner.
What the prayer asks for
Peace in the settlement, timely rain and full granaries answer three concrete fears, matching the drought, the pests and the fires of the season.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Zhenfeng lies on the banks of the Beipan River. In this region, March Third centers on sacrificing to the mountain and worshipping the gods, with the ritual focus on the mountain rather than in the village; the activities are mostly composed of three elements — dancing the straw dragon to sweep the village, slaughtering pigs and cattle to sacrifice to the mountain and pray for rain, and going up the mountain to hide from insects as a prayer for blessings — with the half-day of young men and women singing love songs antiphonally and seeking spouses layered on top. The early-morning village sweeping and the midday feasting come one after the other, setting disaster-averting and merrymaking apart, and also combining sacrifice and mate-seeking into two segments of a single day.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Bouyei “sanyuesan”.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This festival currently sits in the position most easily simplified: the rituals can be abbreviated, the songs can be sung less, and only the mountain sacrifice and village sweeping are still barely held. Each time a complete sacrifice is held less often, the younger generation has one fewer chance to stand through it from beginning to end. The present worry is not the disappearance of form but the simultaneous decline of the people who preside over the sacrifices and the people who go up the mountain: elders who know the ritual order and young people willing to participate are both lacking, and the key to protection remains making young people willing to stand from the first day through the last night.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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