Tujianian
01 · Historical Records
The date of the Tujia New Year is not synchronized with the Han calendar. The Guangxu-era Hunan gazetteer Yongshun Prefecture: Longshan County Records records that the local people observed the new year on the 29th day in a long month and the 28th in a short month. After the People's Government of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture implemented ethnic policy, it listed the Tujia New Year as a local statutory holiday with one day off. The folk explanation for celebrating a day early is that troops were to march out to battle the next day; eating the reunion dinner first and taking the holiday first are both the result of casting the haste before departure into the calendar. The hand-waving dance is tiered by closeness of kin: the small hand-waving is organized by those sharing a surname and lineage or by a whole village, while the great hand-waving is held jointly by one or several townships, and its scale depends on whether the lineage and village can gather in full.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Tujia New Year is the most solemn festival of the Tujia people. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the People's Government of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture implemented the Party's ethnic policy and listed the Tujia New Year as a local statutory holiday with one day off. Compared with the Han Spring Festival, the Tujia New Year's reunion dinner is held one day earlier than the Han one. The Guangxu-era Hunan gazetteer Yongshun Prefecture: Longshan County Records states: 'The local people observe the new year: in a long month the 29th day is taken as the year's start, in a short month the 28th.' The folk explanation for celebrating a day early is that they were to march out to battle the following day. The content of the Tujia New Year is very rich: preparing New Year goods, cooking the New Year meal, paying New Year visits to relatives, and performing sheba (hand-waving dance). The timing of the hand-waving activities varies from village to village, and the scale is divided into large and small. The small hand-waving is generally held with those sharing a surname and lineage or the whole village as the unit; the great hand-waving is held jointly with one township or several townships as the unit. The activities include riding ceremonial sedans into the hall, sweeping away evil and pacifying the spirits, sacrificing to ancestors, singing the Tima songs, dancing the hand-waving dance, and performing the maogusi (hairy ancestral drama); it is a grand gathering of Tujia culture.
Fixing the date by the length of the month
The date is not fixed by the solar calendar but by the local reckoning: the twenty-ninth in a long month, the twenty-eighth in a short one.
Entering the hall behind the sedan
The first act of the hand-waving rite: the procession enters the hall behind its banners and sedan, establishing the dignity of the year.
Sacrifice and the tiyema songs
Ancestors are worshipped before the tiyema songs begin, led by the officiant, passing the community's origins line by line to the young onlookers.
The great and the lesser rite
The lesser rite is run by a clan or a whole village, the greater one by one township or several together; scale varies, the sequence of acts largely does not.
The hand-waving dance and the maogusi play
Dance and the maogusi play carry the days long, their steps imitating ploughing and hunting and the whole company singing together.
New year goods and mutual visits
Goods are bought and the new year's food prepared, then households visit relatives and neighbours in order of closeness, near and far alike.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tujia New Year is transmitted over a wide region: eight million Tujia people in the Wuling Mountain region of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou on the fringes of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau all observe the Tujia New Year, which is an important marker of Tujia ethnic identity. The Tujia New Year prevails across the Wuling Mountain region of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou on the fringes of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau; it is the common year festival of eight million Tujia people, and there is no need for each village to hold its own separate observance — each village may determine long and short months by the calendar for itself. The specific dates of the New Year therefore vary from place to place, while the framework of the customs is the same: preparing New Year goods, cooking the New Year meal, paying New Year visits to relatives, and performing sheba (hand-waving). When the hand-waving is divided into large and small, the timing of activities in each village is also inconsistent, showing that this year festival accommodates room for each village to set its own schedule. After Xiangxi Prefecture listed it as a statutory holiday, the local observances in various places were held alongside prefectural celebrations and festival activities, becoming a prefecture-wide public holiday.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The 'Tujia New Year' festival custom is of very important value for the study of Tujia history and folk culture.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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