Xibo people's westward migration Festival

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Xibo people's westward migration Festival

Applicant: Chabuchar Xibe Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Item No.: 457

Project No.: X - 9

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Type: new item

Applicant: Chabuchar Xibe Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Protection unit: cultural center of Chabuchar Xibe Autonomous County

Xibo people's westward migration Festival

Applicant: Chabuchar Xibe Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Xibo people's westward migration festival in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is commonly known as "migration Festival", "lunar April 18 Festival", "lunar April 18 westward migration Festival" and so on. On April 18 of the lunar calendar in 1764, more than 4000 Xibo officers and soldiers and their families were ordered by the imperial court to move westward from Shengjing (now Shenyang) to Yili, Xinjiang, to cultivate and defend the border. After that, on the 18th day of April in the lunar calendar, people would carry out various activities to solemnly commemorate the heroic achievements of their ancestors, and this day became a traditional festival of Xibo people.

The celebration activities of xiqian Festival are rich and colorful, including picnics, archery, martial arts competition, singing, dancing and so on. Especially in the form of solo and chorus singing, the song of West migration with the process of moving to the West as the main content, has more than 400 lines of lyrics, three sections as one sentence, and 12 sections of the whole song. After more than 200 years of enrichment, processing and creation, there are as many as seven kinds of songs, which have been handed down to the present day and become the most unique cultural expression of the festival. On the day of the westward migration Festival, all the Xibe people, old and young, put on their costumes and get together happily, playing "dongbuer", playing "Moke tune", and dancing "beleen" with vigorous posture and bright rhythm. The "shoulder shaking" of the girls and the "duck step" of the boys are vivid. They express their yearning for their hometown and their vision for a better life in the future. This kind of festival shows the splendid and long-standing cultural tradition, national psychology, national emotion, folk beliefs, folk customs, various crafts and singing and dancing arts of Xibo nationality, which has rich cultural connotation and valuable value.

At present, the loss of oral and literary works is becoming more and more serious, the number of people who are proficient in Manchu is becoming less and less, and the personality of folk art of xiqian Festival is weakening year by year, so we need to strengthen its protection and rescue.