Home to several ethnic groups, Hunan province is rich in cultural relics, lending a festive character to its folk rituals for celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival.
Han tradition
It is customary for many Chinese to paste Spring Festival couplets, stay up all night on Chinese lunar New Year's Eve and pay visits to relatives, but Hunan people have a special ritual.
Worshipping and welcoming the kitchen god that helps ordinary people in Chinese folk stories is a respected custom in Hunan. From the 24th day of the last month in the Chinese lunar calendar, Hunan people will begin cleaning rooms to create a fresh, new start of the coming year.
In many places in the province, this day is called "kitchen day," which raises the curtain of the Spring Festival.
As there is a belief that there should be no use of a knife during the first five days of the Chinese New Year, normally people begin to butcher pigs in the last ten days of the past lunar year. After salting, drying and smoking, the pork is made into preserved meat that is a traditional "must-have" for Hunan people during the Spring Festival time.
Ciba, a glutinous rice cake, is another Spring Festival routine. The making still uses the most original handmade procedures.
In some ethnic places in western Hunan, people also print pictures or Chinese characters on ciba showing blessings for the coming year.
Worshiping the gods and asking for blessings are among the most important Spring Festival ceremonies. The historic Kaifu Temple and the Hengshan Mountain draw a lot of people to show their respect to the gods or express their wishes for the future.
Besides these ceremonial routines, during the day, many people stroll around temple fairs, while at night they join the lantern fairs.
Also, dragon dance attracts many performers and audience every year. Dragon dance performances in Pingjiang county and Chenzhou city have been listed as State-level intangible cultural heritages.
Miao Style
About 1.9 million people of the Miao ethnic group live in the province, making it one of the major Miao hubs in the country.
The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Miao people.
Normally, the Miao begin to butcher pigs and make ciba from the 23rd day of the last month in the lunar calendar. On the lunar New Year's Eve, people will stay awake for the eldest person in the village and sing folk songs throughout the night.
On the first day of the lunar New Year, they will play firecrackers and compete to carry the first barren of water home, a sign of hope for more wealth in the coming year.
The Huayuan county has a deep bond with ox and land. On the New Year's Day of lunar calendar, they will feed ox with ciba to show gratitude and respect to these animals' labor.
Tujia's New Year
The Tujia ethnic group in Hunan usually spends the Spring Festival one day in advance of the Han people. The time is the 29th or 28th day of the lunar December.
On this day, every family will put cypress branches and plum blossoms in shrines, front doors, windows and pigpens. They will also paste spiritual banknotes on the furniture and fruit trees near the house to wish for a prosperous year. The spiritual banknotes will not be removed until the 15th day of the lunar New Year.
The Tujia people also stay awake on the last lunar day of a year.
When the rooster crows at the crack of the dawn, people rush up to set off firecrackers because it is believed that the one who can set off the first firecracker right after the crow might have an extraordinarily wonderful year.
The Dianfang town of the Longshan county still keeps the original Tujia cultures alive. During the Festival, the Tujia people will celebrate through dance, theatre performance and sports games.
Dong celebration
Hunan has the second-largest population of the Dong ethnic group, so the Dong ritual has special importance here.
The most important and famous festival food for the Dong people is jellied fish. And they take turns to eat it according to each family's surname.
The Dong people also organize a special activity called "lusheng meeting." Lusheng is a traditional Chinese musical instrument made of bamboo. This activity is normally held between two villages. People gather together at a square to take part in lusheng playing competitions. They sing and dance as well.
In the Tongdao Dong ethnic autonomous county in Huaihua city, the "spring bull" dance is a very popular activity in every village. The spring bulls are made of bamboos and colored cloth. Several young men hold different parts of the "bull" to make it dance along the way.
The "spring bull" teams bring laugher and songs everywhere they go. In this way, the Dong people celebrate the past year's harvest and wish for a happy new year.
Contact the writers through xuxiao@ chinadaily.com.cn.
CHINA DAILY
Fireworks herald the coming of the Chinese Lunar New Year at Juzi Island in Changsha city.
CHINA DAILY
Dragon dances are among the most popular attractions in the temple fair at the Kaifu Temple
CHINA DAILY
Villagers in Huayuan county make ciba for the New Year.
CHINA DAILY
For the Dong people, making ciba is an exciting event. Villagers always gather around to watch the whole process
CHINA DAILY
The straw dragon dance is a traditional routine in the province's ancient city Hongjiang
CHINA DAILY
In Chenzhou's "story show tour", children dress like famous characters in folk stories and stand on a platform shouldered by other performers.
