The Lusheng Festival is a very famous festival in China. It is a festival celebrated among Miao ethnic groups. Lusheng is a kind of bamboo pipe. It plays an important role in Miao culture. The Lusheng festival is one of important festivals in this region, because it is related to mothers. Local people often say, “We could hear our mum's voice and songs when we are playing this music instrument.”
The playing of Lusheng is very strict. Old people say that it cannot be played after rice planting time or before the rice harvest. They think that the Lusheng playing might blow away the rice flowers if people play it at the time, which will lead to a bad harvest. They hold this festival to show gratitude to their ancestors' spirits, gods of nature and pray for a good harvest in the coming year.
In the festival, farmers only eat new rice and cook sticky rice. Some families will make sticky rice cakes or steamed sticky rice covered by bamboo leaves. Hosts and their relatives drink rice wine for 3 days in the morning and in the evening. They also make a red point on the relatives' foreheads when each of them finish a bowl of rice wine. The red point symbolizes good luck, so some people have more than 8 red points. The local farmers do not attend the festival unless they have finished their lunch, and drunk a lot of rice wine. After lunch, many women wear traditional clothes, silver ornaments, carry their babies on their backs, and then walk to the dancing square in the mountain.
Additionally, it is not only a simple festival, but also a good time for the unmarried people in the village to get to know each other and become marriage partners. Boys try to play lusheng well and girls dance in their colorful and traditional costumes to the boys' music.
