Miao Huashan Festival
01 · Historical Records
According to historical documents and folk legends, the Huashan Festival is a clan sacrificial activity of the Miao people for worshipping ancestors and gathering kinsmen scattered by war and migration; its earliest records can be traced back to the Song dynasty. The top of the flower pole points east, symbolizing that the cradle of the Miao people lies in the east.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Miao Huashan Festival is a grand traditional festival of great influence among the Miao people. Pingbian is a county in Yunnan Province inhabited by the Miao people for generations. Every year from the 3rd to the 7th day of the first lunar month, Miao compatriots across the county gather together to celebrate the Miao Huashan Festival. The Miao Huashan Festival is also known as 'Caihuashan' (picking flowers on the mountain); in the Miao language it is called 'Aodao', where 'ao' means offering sacrifices and 'dao' refers to a hillside. Lu You's 'Laoxue'an Biji' (Notes from the Laoxue'an Studio) contains records of the activities of the Miao people at that time. The Pingbian Huashan Festival activities consist of four main stages—erecting the pole, offering sacrifices to the pole, celebrating at the pole, and retrieving the pole—each with its own specific meaning. When erecting the pole, the steps are carried out in sequence: selecting the site, selecting the pole, digging the hole, and raising the pole. The flower pole is the key symbol of the festival. It is usually made of a tall, straight fir, and the site must be chosen and the pole set up between the 16th and the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month. The offering to the pole takes place on the first day of the festival. Led by the master of ceremonies, nine men and eight women—symbolizing the nine sons and eight daughters of Chiyou—face east and offer sacrifices before the flower pole, singing the 'Song of the Origin of Huashan' to trace history and worship the ancestors. The celebration stage is a folk merrymaking activity with rich and varied forms: antiphonal singing, lusheng (reed-pipe) dancing, and climbing the flower pole, interspersed with social activities among young men and women. When retrieving the pole, the master of ceremonies sings the pole-retrieval song and the lusheng master plays the pole-retrieval melody. After the pole is dug up, it is toppled toward the west without touching the ground; led by the lusheng master, the crowd carries the pole to the host's home, at which point the festival comes to an end. Rich in content and wholesome in spirit, the festival is highly valued among Miao compatriots and is a grand occasion for the Miao people.
Choosing the ground and raising the pole
The ground, the pole, the hole and the raising follow in turn; a tall straight fir is chosen and set between the sixteenth and twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The nine men and eight women at the offering
On the first day the host leads nine men and eight women to face east before the pole, the numbers recalling the founding brothers and sisters.
Singing the song of the festival’s origin
During the offering the song of the festival’s origin is sung to recount why the pole is raised and to recall the migrations of the past.
Boisterous play at the pole
The second day belongs to song contests, reed-pipe dances and climbing the pole bare-handed, mingled with courtship among the young.
Closing songs and the parting of the pole
At the close the host sings and the reed-pipe players play; the pole is dug up, laid westward without touching the ground and carried to the host’s house.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Miao Huashan Festival is most widely practiced in Pingbian, Yunnan. From the 3rd to the 7th day of the first lunar month, Miao compatriots from the county town and the townships gather at the Huashan festival ground. Pingbian is a land where the Miao have lived for generations; every village has its own site for raising the pole, and when the festival season arrives, all villages make their way to the same mountain ground; after the festival, the villages often take turns as hosts, continuing the celebration one after another. The flower pole is always raised on high ground at the top of a slope, its tip pointing east, signifying that the cradle of the Miao people lies in the east. The festival is called Aodao in the local Miao language, meaning 'offering sacrifices on the hillside', which reflects its nature as a hillside sacrificial ground; the relevant songs and lusheng melodies circulate among the villages, and the same 'Song of the Origin of Huashan' is sung in different ways from village to village.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It covers virtually every aspect of Miao life, including primitive beliefs, life rituals, and customs, and thus holds considerable artistic and cultural value. The Huashan Festival is not only an important vehicle for transmitting Miao traditional culture but also plays a positive role in uniting the people, promoting ethnic unity, and maintaining social stability. Hou Baobing (information from the official inheritor file): male, Miao ethnicity, born in March 1953, native of Pingbian Miao Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. The funerary sacrificial songs sung at the Huashan Festival and the lusheng dance steps performed there have been included respectively in the 'Folk Song Collection' and the 'Dance Collection' of Pingbian Miao Autonomous County. He actively takes on apprentices and teaches the arts, carrying out the transmission and performance of Miao traditional culture, and enjoys considerable influence locally. He is a representative inheritor of the Miao Huashan Festival, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth national-level batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Hou Baobing 05-3061
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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