How Do The Chinese Miao Worship Their Ancestors?
The GuZang Festival held once every 13 years is very important for the Chinese Miao people. Everyone, old and young, men and women, will be dressed in unique ethnic costume and glistening silver jewelry, to attend activities that date back thousands of years!
During the festival, the Miao always use good words to describe any detail of the occasion. For butchering a pig, they say kiss the big official; for taking a butcher knife, they say give me the leaf; for heating the stove with some straw to cook the pork, they say use the quilt to cover the official. By doing this, they try to avoid any unhappy feelings.
On the 5th day of the GuZang festival, people lead the sacred bulls to walk around the village, with firecrackers exploding loudly. The bulls wear colorful decorations on their body.
The next day just before dawn, the bulls are butchered. Their heads are lined up facing east, which indicates the ancestors of the Miao come from the eastern part of China. Then a ceremony is held to release souls of these bulls from purgatory. Finally people sing the old sacrificial songs together.
When the ceremony is over, the meat of bulls is divided and given to different families to hold banquets at home.
In the next few days, the Miao continue to indulge themselves in singing, dancing, with the beautiful drum music echoing through the mountains.
The thrilling bullfighting game is always held during the festival. Two bulls fight with each other furiously in the game. The one that gets killed is regarded as a hero and will be buried with a big funeral. His brave battle story is written on the gravestone.
There is a very interesting story about the origin of the GuZang festival, but to learn about it, visit my website below!
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