Duan festival of Shui Nationality

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Shui duanjie

Applicant: Sandu Shui Autonomous County, Guizhou Province

Item No.: 468

Project No.: Ⅹ - 20

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Guizhou Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Sandu Shui Autonomous County, Guizhou Province

Protection unit: Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center of Sandu Shui Autonomous County

Introduction to Duan festival of Shui Nationality

Applicant: Sandu Shui Autonomous County, Guizhou Province

Shui people mainly live in Sandu Shui Autonomous County of Guizhou Province. Duanjie is the biggest traditional festival of Shui nationality, which is equivalent to the Spring Festival of Han nationality. According to the regulations of Shuishu and Shuili, the Duan Festival is held at the end of the year and the beginning of the year to celebrate the harvest and welcome the new year. The festival period is from August to October of the lunar calendar.

The Dragon Boat Festival takes Hai Day as the main part to calculate the festival date. There are many festivals. There are nine in ancient times and seven today. The interval between the beginning and the end is about 50 days. The custom of celebrating Gu Shu and celebrating the new year of the ancient Shui clan remains.

The main activities of duanjie are sacrifice and horse racing. "New Year's Eve" and "New Year's Day" two meals connected to avoid meat and vegetables, but not fish and shrimp. During the festival, the sound of bronze drums rises and falls one after another, melodious songs and Lusheng tune reverberate in the bamboo building from morning to night, and the water village is immersed in the festival atmosphere. The horse racing meeting is the climax of the Dragon Boat Festival. The location of horse racing is called "duanpo" or "nianpo". People come here in droves from various villages after drinking Chinese New Year wine, and duanpo is full of people. Young people rush to duanpo not only to watch the horse race, but also to see the grand party as a good opportunity to find lovers. There is also a simple ceremony before the horse race. In the middle of the runway, people set up an altar with all kinds of sacrifices. The elders in the village were the most respected elders. The elders stood at the table with a solemn look, carrying a glass full of wine, and chanting words, most of which were nostalgic for their ancestors and auspicious words. At the end of the ceremony, Zhai Lao Yue got on his horse and walked around the track, announcing the start of horse racing. Shui race is a unique form of horse racing, which is called "squeeze horse". When the commander gives a command, the rider raises his whip and drives his horse to rush into each other in the valley. In the struggle, he rushes out of the valley to the top of the slope. Whoever gets to the top of the far slope first is the winner.

Duanjie is the longest and most popular festival with national characteristics. Climbing horse racing is a unique phenomenon in the southern national festival. At the same time, duanjie is an important cultural space for the origin, inheritance and development of many folk arts, such as Shui nationality bullfight dance, bronze drum dance, Lusheng dance and duet song.