"Cai Hua Shan", also known as "Hua Shan Festival", is the most important festival of the Miao people. "Cai Hua Shan" is the Chinese name, and in Miao language, it becomes "Gong Dao". The exact meaning of "Kung Dao" is "mourning in the mountains". "Kung Dao" this festival is actually from the Miao compatriots on the commemoration of Chi You. Legend has it that once upon a time the ancestors of the Miao people lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, where the land is fertile, cattle and sheep. The ruthless Yellow Emperor was bent on dominating the Miao place, he sent troops to attack the Miao. Miao King Meng Zi You and Chi You led his nine sons, eight girls, Miao people and the Yellow Emperor war. Ultimately outnumbered, the children of the king of the Miao were killed in battle, the Miao ancestors had to migrate to the south. Meng Zi You set up a flower pole on the sixteenth day of the lunar month and held a festival on the second day of the first month of the lunar year to commemorate the sons, daughters and compatriots who died in battle. This festival has been passed down from generation to generation. Traditionally, "Cai Huashan" is a festival for sacrifices, but nowadays, "Cai Huashan" is a festival for Hmong people, or even people of different ethnic groups, to get together and have fun in the Spring Festival. Every year, from the second to the eighth of these days, the water dragon will be held in the order of the mountain song, Lusheng show, climbing pole, playing gyro, cockfighting, bullfighting and other competitions.
I remember that on the second day of the first month of the year before last, we lay on the hillside under the song stage of Ringshui Long quietly listening to the song contest, underneath the thick pine leaves, the sunshine through the cracks of the pine trees, warmly shining on the body. The two singers participating in the final match were holding a competition, and the sound of mountain songs was spreading in all directions with the tannoy. On the radio, the two singers began to ask and answer questions, but gradually the male singer slowed down. In the end, the contest ended with the female singer singing three songs in a row, while the male singer was unable to sing the lyrics in response. After the host announced the results of the game, the applause, big or small, if not, from the singing platform, from the surrounding mountains.
On the sixth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, it was the fifth day of the Flower Mountain Stampede held by Rongshuilong, and today's event was the bullfighting competition, so we drove to Rongshuilong. There are still a few hundred meters away from the water dragon, the highway on both sides of the parked cars, had to get off the walk. Get out of the car to see, dressed in holiday costumes of the Yi, Miao, Zhuang people of all ethnic groups, the old and the young, in pairs, are from all directions, or by car, or on foot, gathered. The sky, cloudy and clear, the sun is bright. On both sides of the highway, you can vaguely see scattered in the foothills of the ground on the peach trees opened up sporadic petals, light pink but unquestionably signals the arrival of spring. Parked on both sides of the highway, the car, in the bright spring light, sparkling waves, reflecting a variety of ethnic costumes, the world a stream of colorful.
From a distance, we can see that the competition site has been surrounded by a lot of people, sitting in the tree children, standing on the stone men, standing under the tree women, coincidentally all stretched their necks, cast their eyes to the center of the field. The village headman told the cattle owners to draw lots, so they went in twos and threes to draw lots and prepare for the race. After a while, the two cows for the first race were pulled to the center of the field by their owners, and as soon as the owners let go of the ropes, the race began. As soon as the left cow rushed toward the right one, the right cow ran away without looking back. The crowd roared with laughter, and the long-awaited race was over. The cows stopped in the pine forest waiting for the race, their bodies reflecting a mellow luster under the sunlight, and my daughter said, "Mom, their bodies are so clean!" Next to a Miao woman heard her daughter's words, hurriedly said: "Ouch, people pull to the race before the cattle to bathe, comb its hair smooth, and usually have to pay attention to feed it."
Historically, Yunnan was a barbarian land inhabited by ethnic minorities. Most of the old society used the slash-and-burn mode of production, living in poverty, frequent migration, barefoot, struggling on the breadline of the Miao compatriots, today, in the bath to his cattle, ready to pull the cattle to the race is a kind of mood!" Curious, I asked, "The owner of the ox is so attentive just to pull it for the race in the Spring Festival?" A Zhuang woman next to me grabbed the opportunity to answer, "No, they usually have a fight together when they are happy. On the third day of the Lunar New Year, they fought for one day in Onda. This year, when I came here to participate in the competition, the first prize was 1,200 yuan. It's a good policy of the state nowadays." Yes, in the traditional concept of farmers, the ox is just a tool to help them plow the fields and plant the land. But what about now? When they are in their spare time, pulling the cattle race entertainment, they and their cattle and what kind of identity?
As people waited, another race began. The black-flowered cow on the left looked robust, but the yellow cow on the right was full of spirit. The black flower cow rushed over, the yellow cow cleverly dodged, and then find the right time, and the black flower cow against together, each other are drummed up the strength, each other do not give up. As the game became more and more intense, the audience issued a "go, go" shouts. Watching which way the bull is retreating, the organizer with the whip next to it drives it back to the competition field. Recall that a few years ago, also came here to see the bullfight, the competition venue in a depression, the audience are either squatting or standing on the hillside next to the defeated bull rushed to the hillside, the audience will be panicked and laughing with children, pulling the old man fled to another hill, squatting down, continue to watch. This scenario, which was played out many times every day of the competition, has become a memory today. After several rounds of competition, the black-flowered cow panted and lost the battle. The audience once tense nerves and relax, anxiously waiting for the next game.
Looking at these bullfights, I can't help but think of last year's Xia Tian, we went to a Miao colleague's house to pick apricots and eat dog meat. On the mountain road, we met a Hmong man who drove an oxcart, and he proudly told us how his ox won the Spring Festival "flower mountain" competition. The first time I saw him, he told us how he had won the competition in the Spring Festival, and how he would win this year.
Today's Ringshui Long is not only a bullfighting arena, but also a stage for various ethnic performances. The Miao family skirt, Yi family colorful waist, Zhuang family beautifully decorated, peculiar headdresses, in the interplay here. The Miao family's lusheng dance, the Yi family's string dance, the Zhuang family's handkerchief dance, at the gate, under the eaves, on the side of the road, jumped up at any time and anywhere.
In recent years, the living standards of all ethnic groups in Yanshan have improved, and the spiritual life is becoming more abundant. Villages and cottages have established a cultural team, the Miao mountains came from the sound of the reed-sheng, Yi cottage played the sound of the strings, ensemble of simple and harmonious national song. Miao compatriots of the "Cai Hua Shan", Zhuang compatriots of the "March 3", Yi compatriots of the "Torch Festival", so that Yanshan, a small county in the border area all year round overflowing with the atmosphere of the festival, sparkling with The "Torch Festival" makes Yanshan, a small county in the border area, full of festivals all year round and glittering with charming ethnic style.