Huaer (Erlang Mountain Huaer Festival)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Huaer (Erlang Mountain Huaer Festival)

Applicant: Min County, Gansu Province

Item No.: 51

Project No.: Ⅱ - 20

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Gansu Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Min County, Gansu Province

Protection unit: Minxian Cultural Center

Introduction to Huaer (Erlang Mountain Huaer Festival)

Applicant: Min County, Gansu Province

Huaer is a kind of folk song which is widely spread in Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang. It is a kind of folk song which can only be sung outside the village. It is generally called "Yequ" (as opposed to "Jiaqu" (banquet song) and also called "juvenile". Its singing is divided into two main occasions: daily production, life and "Huaer meeting". "Huaer Festival" is a large Folk Song Festival, also known as "singing mountain".

Minxian county is located in the south of Gansu Province, where the Loess Plateau, Qinghai Tibet Plateau and West Qinling mountains meet. Erlang mountain is located in the south of Minxian county and at the beginning of Minshan Mountain. Erlang mountain flower festival originated from the God worship competition in Minxian county. According to research, it was formed in Ming Dynasty. Every year in the early May of the lunar calendar, the 18 qiushen (Dragon God) who are distributed in the territory all drive out to patrol the whole territory. The village branch, located on the route of its tour, made fixed-point sacrifices and prayed for a good harvest. In this way, there were more than 40 large and small venues for wax burning, God praying, vowing and singing flowers. The center of the festival was Erlang mountain on May 17, with the largest scale. On the afternoon of the day of sacrifice, 18 Qiu gods were carried up to Erlang Mountain in turn to receive the official sacrifice. At the same time, the sacrificial masses sang "Taomin flower". At that time, the number of participants in the competition reached more than 100000, and the scene was extremely warm. The singing of "Taomin Hua'er" can be divided into two groups: the South Group Hua'er is also called "aolian'er", which has the obvious characteristics of primitive beauty. The North Group Hua'er is also called "lianglian'er", which has free and slow melody and is good at narration. "Tao min Hua'er" has not only the value of music and improvisation, but also the literary value of the lyrics. Like Qiu Shen sacrifice, it condenses the wisdom of the working people and is a treasure house for studying the social development history and folk culture of Min county.

Due to historical reasons, the ancient custom of Qiu God sacrifice still exists, but the official sacrifice ceremony on the mountain is endangered and needs to be further protected. In recent years, thanks to the efforts of Minxian county Party committee and Minxian county government, "Taomin Huaer" has been awarded the honorary title of "United Nations folk song investigation base" by UNESCO.