Zhaoxing Dong Village New Year Festivals
Zhaoxing boasts its traditional wooden houses, wind and rain bridges, theater stages, drum towers. Many inhabitants continue wear traditional clothing and speak native Dong language.
It is very nice and laid back place for the tourists who want to escape from the big cities. You just sit in the beer bar along the riverside, see the women washing clothing in the river, dry the cloth in the front of their houses, make cloth, or wander around the village. Due to the village is far from the city, the locals are very primitive and friendly. You can sleep when the door is open.
In the early morning, you can see one woman washing hair in the front of her wooden house, in other side you can see another woman washing hair at her house. It is very beautiful view.
Dong People are good at singing, as a famous saying goes in this area: Food is for body, singing is for health and soul. They do not have their own characters, so they are singing at many occasions, such as courting and marriage, greeting guests, bidding farewell to the visitors, time of worship and sacrifice offering even while they are working in the rice paddies. Their history, culture, story, customs and traditions etc passed on by singing songs from generation to generation.
You can find the beautiful rice terraces, splendid scenery, a brook through the whole village as well as the Dong Minority Culture here.
The festivities for the Chinese New Year:
Offering sacrifice to the goddess, making rice cakes, group wedding ceremony, make rice wine, grand songs etc.
Yueye is the most important activity during the New Year, Yueye is a time when all the villager to the neighboring village to be guests.
The first activity is Dong opera at the first night, the second activity is for everybody to go to the drum tower ground to sing and dance. Then the guest village nearby will play "Carrying official"game, the one will dress up and pretend to be the leader of government and sit in the hand carry carriage by 4 porters, bring some presents to the others, followed by many people. The followers will also dress up and try to make villages laugh and have a good time, they finally will arrive at the drum tower ground to play jokes, have fun and give gifts to others.
The last activity is to have a reunion dinner, they will sit in the long table feast.
Many young people have wedding ceremony at the day of the Chinese New Year in Sanjiang area.