Dulong kaquewa Festival

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dulong kaquewa Festival

Applicant: Gongshan Dulong Nu Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

Item No.: 471

Project No.: Ⅹ - 23

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Yunnan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Gongshan Dulong Nu Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

Protected by: Gongshan Dulong Nu Autonomous County Cultural Center

A brief introduction to the Dulong kaquewa Festival:

Applicant: Gongshan Dulong Nu Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

The Dulong kaquewa Festival is popular in all Dulong villages in the Dulong River Valley of Gongshan Dulong Nu Autonomous County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.

Kaquewa Festival is held from December of the lunar calendar to January of the next year, with the shortest period of 3 days and the longest period of 9 days. In 1991, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County, according to the wishes of the Dulong People, designated January 10 of the Gregorian calendar as the kalquewa festival of the Dulong People. The festival includes woodcut message, jumping Guozhuang, shooting prey models, burning pine leaves in Huotang for good luck, drinking Muluo wine, plagiarizing cattle and so on. The festival period of kaquewa in each village is successive. The villages living in the upper reaches of Dulong River are the first to start the festival. From the upper reaches to the lower reaches, the villages enter the festival period in sequence. The celebration of kaquewa in Dulong villages in the whole Dulong River Basin lasts for one month.

Kaquewa Festival is of great value in exploring the development track of Dulong culture, especially in grasping the origin and changing history of Dulong calendar. Secondly, kaquewa Festival retains the information transmission mode of woodcut transmission, which is a precious sample for studying the social organization mechanism of groups without characters. In addition, kaquewa Festival is also an important carrier for the Dulong People to integrate and inherit the traditional culture, which highlights the Dulong People's concept of reverence for nature and their desire for smooth life.