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Qiang New Year: A lavish celebration of peace, agriculture, and customs
By - 24 Jan 2024 05:24 PM
The largest and most significant customary celebration for the Qiang ethnic group is the Qiang New Year Festival, which typically takes place on the first day of the tenth month in the conventional Chinese calendar.
The main themes of Qiang New Year are blessings, peace prayers, and harvest celebration. The straightforward and antiquated ceremonial practices create a distinctively rich cultural ambiance that embodies the peculiarities of Qiang culture.
The Qiang people are a long-standing ethnic group with thousands of years of history. Their distinct traditional culture has developed as a result of living in high mountain valleys and a secluded, closed environment; Qiang New Year is one such example.Although the history of the Qiang New Year is unknown, it is believed to have started earlier than the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).
It is a comprehensive folk festival that blends religious beliefs, historical legends, music, dance, and cuisine because of the solemnity of its rituals and the meticulousness of its sacrifices, particularly in the ceremonies. Its content reflects early agricultural activities in large part, with many cultural artifacts from the hunting and nomadic periods remaining.
When Qiang New Year arrives, each village holds elaborate celebrations, usually lasting from three to five days, and in some villages as long as 10 days, with slight variations from region to region. The main events of the celebrations are entertainment and sacrifices. The sacrificial activities include offerings to heaven, earth, ancestors, and village deities, while the entertainment includes feasting, drinking, enjoying delicacies, singing and dancing.
The Qiang New Year Festival was acknowledged for its significance and the need for its preservation in 2009 when it was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
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