The Lahus mostly reside in the counties of southern Yunnan Province. Lagu is a word of Lagu's language. La means tiger and Hu means meat baking. Hence, the Lahus in history was called the tiger-hunting ethnic group. The Lahus have their own language, and also know Chinese and the Dai language. The Lahus believe in Mahayana and Christianity. They are rich in folk literatures. In addition to growing crops, they plant sugarcane, tea, coffee and rubber.
The Lahus have many festivals. Their traditional festivals include the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Firebrand Festival, the Fresh Rice Festival, Pork Distributing Festival, Rangsheng Festival, Nianli and Quanqianli, which are full of folk features, healthy and positive content.
Spring Festival
The Spring Festival is called the Kuota Festival, Kuozuo Festival or Kuoni Hani Festival in the Lahu language. According to the custom, there are the Big Spring Festival and the Small Spring Festival. It starts from January 1 of lunar calendar every year, and generally lasts 4 to 5 days.
Every year in fall, people begin to prepare for the celebration of the Spring Festival. Men go hunting; women stay at home making new clothes. Young people make the Lusheng (weed-pipe wind instrument), Oral Bamboo String and embroidered bag. No exception for the children. They make twine, peg-top and dream of the fun of the festival. When the festival is approaching, the festal atmosphere is getting denser. Since the 26thof the twelfth month of the lunar year, people tidy up the courtyard, slay swine, chook and make sticky rice cakes. One day prior to the eve, the hospitable Lahus invite their relatives and friends from the Dai, Hani, Hans and Blang in the neighborhood for a feast and celebrate the festival together. They send each other the sticky rice and a special food made of chopped meat mixed with salt and cayenne.
The religious worship is held on the eve. All people face the direction of sunset and welcome the ancestors' soul back home for the festival. The Lahus in some places will cut a pine of 2m high from the mountain and plant it in the parvis for the ancestor worship. In regions where people are used to living in large houses, the family members have to leave their Bankao (a temporary residence set up on the slope or in the field in order to collect, hunt or cultivate) and return home for the family reunion.
In the evening of the eve, every family of the Lahus will eat sticky rice cakes. They sit in a circle and enjoy the delicious food. After the feast, they feed the livestock some Year Supper. Women attach cooked sticky rice on the dead stock such as hoe and chopper to express their reward to the livestock for the hardship during the last year, and encourage them to keep their efforts for the coming year. In the mid-night, the fire guns and cannons shoot together to greet the arrival of the New Year.
On the 1stday of the festival, at the first crow, boys and girls hurry to the spring bank to fetch fresh water. The Lahus consider that water at the beginning of a new year is the freshest and purest. It will prevent people from disasters and help them get a happy life. The one, who has fetched the fresh water first, is regarded as the happiest person. After getting the fresh water, people use it to worship their ancestors and then for the elders to wash up. The elders will chant the greeting to the young people and encourage them to work hard and pray god to bless their offspring with good health, ample food and clothes. Afterward, people stream to the home of the village chief elected by villagers, they kowtow to him in turn, and then, led by the family host, people pay each other the New Year's call. They sit around the fire stove, and drink tea and wine while singing the traditional festival songs. On the village ground, kids play peg-top; women pursue for love. At night, people gather together in the center of the village to dance and sing all night. From January 2, people start visiting their friends and relatives with the gifts such as sticky rice cakes, laurel meat and wine.
According to the practice of the Lahus, when juniors pay New Year' calls on the elder, the latter should sing the greeting songs to them, and tie red threads around them to pray for luck, hope and welfare. On the 3rdof the festival, all villagers have the reunion dinner, which is called in the Lahu language Guzha. The villagers bring wine and dish to the village chief's home. By dinner, they have to take seat in two tables according to gender (male on the left and female on the right). The village chief upholds the cup, and dip around on the table edges and pray for good weather, prosperous development of human and livestock. Afterward, he announces the village rules and affairs concerning the election of the new village chief, which will be discussed in public. After the sunset, every villager assembles again. They carry baskets full of foods to worship the ancestors, and then throw the residues of the food into fire, then, outside the village.
About 10 days after the Big Spring Festival, the Small Spring Festival is celebrated in due form. In the past, men of Lahus could not get back on time as they went hunting and faming in mountains. In order to console men, women prepared the Small Spring Festival. Therefore, the Big Spring Festival is referred to as the women's Spring Festival in Lahus' custom; and the Small Spring Festival is men's Spring Festival. The programs of the Small Spring Festival are basically similar to those of the Big Spring Festival. On the evening of lunar January 15, as the full moon rises in the sky, all people of the village, led by Anzhan perform the Kanima dance (a sort of the dance to the accompaniment of Lusheng). This dance is also called Heart Union Dance, which means the full moon is combined with the union of people.
During the festival, the most spectacular and animated activity is the Lusheng Party, which lasts several days. On the occasion, people dress themselves up and hurry from the nearby villages to gather together on the free lawn of the village center. People set a bamboo table in the center of the dance place. On the table, there is a bamboo basket filled with paddy, corns, sticky rice and cakes, inserted with plum, cherry and peach flowers. People burn joss sticks and Anzhan addresses the worship greeting. Afterward, guided by the Lusheng players elected by the public, people, hand in hand, start performing in a circle the dance reflecting the seeding, harvest and thrashing. The animated and merry atmosphere brings the dance party to its upsurge. As the couples of young men and girls leave the crowd and enter forests, the rest of people will sit around the fire and keep singing till the daybreak. When the dance party winds up, every family come to get the saint seeds derived from the Tiaosheng Dance and bring them back home, where they will mix the seeds with the self-grown crops seeds in hope of a bumper harvest in the coming year.
Wusizha Festival
It is a traditional festival of the Lahus. The word Wusizha is the transliteration of the Lahu language, which means Fresh Rice Tasting or Fresh Rice Festival. It prevails in the Lahu regions of Yunnan Province.
The Fresh Rice Festival includes the fresh paddy tasting and fresh corn tasting. As the different ripe seasons, the date of the festivals varies accordingly. The fresh rice tasting occurs in August of each lunar calendar year; and the fresh corn tasting takes place in June of each lunar calendar year. The actual date depends on the time of the crops' ripeness. This is also different according the conditions of each village. There is the case where all villages celebrate collectively, and there are also examples where the one, whose crops are ripe the first, celebrates first.
Prior to the festival, some bundles of fresh paddy are harvested and hung on the door, and then grains are pounded to make rice for the ancestor's worship. On the festival, every family will go to the temple where they splash water and offer to the god with fresh rice. Afterward, they will worship the Domestic God Yeni. On the noon of the second day of the festival, the village will arrange the union dinner. The village chief addresses festal greeting to all villagers. In some regions, people will invite friends and relatives to tasting fresh rice. Before the dinner, the host will offer dog a bowl of rice, and then the hostess toasts the guests and recommends an elder of prestige to address the toast greeting. During the feast, people wish each other a bumper harvest and prosperity.
After dinner, a singing and dance party by Lusheng will be held on the village ground or in a large courtyard. All villagers will take part in the party. The sounds of gongs and drums, the tone of the Lusheng and dance steps integrate into a festal melody of the bumper harvest celebration. Young men and girls also take chance to look for their lovers. The elders will drink wine in the bamboo houses, smoke, and chat and view the scene of the party. Sometimes, the festal entertainment lasts overnight.
There are many stories about the origin of the festival. One of legends has it that in the remote times, the Lahus did not know how to cultivate crops. They lived a hard life on hunting. A god commiserated with the Lahus' sufferance and taught them how to plant paddy and maize. Hence, the Lahus celebrate the Fresh Rice Festival in order to thank the god for its help and offer the god a bowl of fresh rice, praying the god for the bumper harvest and development in livestock and happy life.
Kuzha Festival
The Kuzha Festival is the traditional festal of the Lahus. It takes place between lunar December and the next lunar January. The word Kuzha is the transliteration of the Lahu language. It is also called Kouzha and Koukou in some regions, which all mean a New Year Celebration, and it prevails in the Lahu regions of Yunnan Province.
The festival commonly lasts four to five days. The customs of the festival vary with different regions. In the morning of the festival, the Lahus in the mountain of the southwest of Yunnan Province will shoot outside the village. Awaken by the shooting, the villagers will beat gongs and elephant-legged drums. While dancing and singing, they gather in front of the village gate to welcome their relatives to back home for the festival celebration. When friends and relatives arrive at the gate with festal gifts, the wife of Anzhan and the village chief will toast, spread rice and bless the guests. Stepped into the village, the guest will pay a visit to the Anzhan's home, and then start dancing and singing. They won't get home until tomorrow. After the breakfast, every family will assemble on the lawn in front of the temple with fire gun, offerings and foods. First, they keep shooting toward the valley, spread rice around the temple, and then get in to hold the great worship. After the ritual, people start entertainments; they play peg-top and swing.
In the evening, all villagers gather together on the ground. They dance and sing all night. In these three days, all people of the village bring their own food and wine for the festal union feast. People will take seat in two groups, the male on the right, and the female on the left. On the table, the emcee address the New Year's greeting, bless people with welfare, longevity and livestock prosperity. The public issues of the village will also be discussed. In some regions, one day prior to the festival, people will invite their friends and relatives in the neighborhood for the feast and send foods to each other. In the afternoon of the next day, they shoot to notify that the people from other villages leave the village and at the meantime to begin the curfew. People from other villages are not allowed to enter again, in order to prevent from the pilferage as people drink during the feast. Provided people from other villages crash into the village, they will be temporally detained at the guesthouses and be treated with wine and meat everyday until the festival ends.
Kucong Year Festival
It is the traditional festival of the Lahus, which prevails in the regions where the Kucongs, the sub race of the Lahus in Yunnan Province. It is recorded in theAnnuals of Puer Mansionthat: The Kucongs regard the 24thday of the sixth month as the end of a year, and the 24thday of the twelfth month as the beginning of a year. On the occasion, people cook muttons and pork to worship the ancestors. They riot in drinking and eating while they dance and sing.
In the morning of the festival, every family of the Kucongs go to the field, make a pile of stones, cover pine twigs and splash chicken blood over it to worship the paddy. Afterward, they collect some ripe grains, and cut some maize, take them back with the killed chook. At night, they slaughter another chook and draw three feathers, place them on the table of the garner with fresh paddy and rice wine to worship the Paddy God for the bumper harvest. After the worship, people hold the firebrand; they dance and sing, walk on the ridge of the field, and put the dried pine twigs on the firebrand to drive away evils and welcome good luck. There are also many festal entertainments in other villages, which are in majority relevant to the worship of the ancestors.
Kala Festival
Legend has it that Kala is the primogenitor of the agriculture. The festival is popular in the regions where the Kucongs, the sub race of the Lahus in Yunnan Province, are living. It is said that Kala found a thrush pecked some colorful seeds when he hunted in the mountain. He collected them and planted. The yellow seeds became the dry rice and corns; the purple turned into the sorghum; and black, the buckwheat. After the harvest, Kala offered them to the villagers for fresh tasting and gifted the seed to all people.
Since then, the life of the Kucongs had greatly improved, and never suffered from starvation again. Kala died on lunar January 3. After his death, people worshipped him as a god. During the festival and prior to the dusk, people use the games hunted on the current to worship the ancestors. The place of the worship is set under a chestnut tree, which is regarded as the embodiment of Kala. According to age, men are kept in the first line, and each of them holds a bamboo tube of wine; women stand behind men in silence. When the officiant announces to kill the ox, men uphold the tube of wine overhead, bend forward, and drink off. Then, led by the village chief, they praise, by reciting, the deed of Kala. After the recitation, the healthy elders, who have son and grandson, tie red threads for the children to bless them with good health. The red thread is tied on the left hand for boys and right hand for girls, which means to prevent from evil and sickness, and to bless them for thriving and safety every year.
Firebrand Festival
The Firebrand Festival is a traditional festal event for the Chinese minorities such as the Lahu, Yi, Bai, Lisu, Naxi, Hani, Va, Blang and Pumi, etc. Except the Vs, Blang and Pumi, the languages of the other six ethnic minorities that celebrate the Firebrand Festival belong to the Yi branch of the Tibet-Burma Austronesian under the Han-Tibetan phylum. It prevails in most part of the above minority regions of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guanxi provinces.
With exception of the Yis living in the west of Guizhou Province, which celebrate the festival on June 6 of each lunar calendar, the rest of the ethnic groups hold the celebration on June 24 and 25. It lasts 3 to 7 days, at most 15 days.
The programs of the festal entertainments are different depending on the regions. The similarities basically include the following:
I. Various pine torches and firebrands are prepared prior to the festival, some of them are more than 10m high, and lighted in the evening of the festival. People go around villages and houses as well as the edge of the field while upholding the firebrands. Beating of gongs and drums, shouting, dancing and singing aim at driving away the evil and pests and blessing for the bumper harvest.
II. The worship. In some cases, cows and sheep are slain, and in other cases, swine and chooks are slaughtered to worship the Field God and to pray for the safety of human and livestock as well as for the bumper harvest.
III. Fire party, jumping over the fire, dancing and antiphonal singing, courting for the lovers; contests of horserace, bull-fighting, wrestles, arrow shooting, push and pull and swing; the local commodity exchanges and fairs.
According to some legends, it is for the purpose of memorizing the struggle which people in the past beat the demons by using the fire attack; some other tales says the festival originates from the event that the Yis killed with fires the pests sent to the world by the Heaven King. Some sagas tell the wife of the Deng Danzhao King organized people to make a firebrand on the sheep horns and swashed away the enemies. It developed into the Firebrand Festival in memory of her. In fact, the origin has something to do with the fire worship and praying for the bumper harvest in ancient times.
Haba Festival
The word Haba is of the Lahu language, which means the moon and full moon. Therefore, it can be translated into Moon Festival or Full Moon Festival. It is popular in the Lahu regions of Yunnan Province. The Lahus believe that the phase of the moon indicates the farming seasons. In order to offer thanksgiving to the Moon God, people should select a fine day to worship. As there are fine days in the harvest season and the moon is clear like water, it is the best time for the worship.
The place to worship the moon on lunar August 15 is located at the site where the Mountain God is worshipped. The offerings are made of paddy, squash and fruits, which are placed on the altar table made of bamboo. After the worship, people of the village sing and dance to celebrate the bumper harvest. In some areas where the Lahus believe in Buddhism, people will worship the moon in the Buddhist temple of the village, and the ritual will be presided over by a monk. They burn joss sticks in front of a large piece of white cloth printed with a bright moon. After the worship, all villagers sing and dance. In addition, the singing contest will be held. The winner will be praised as the singer. That will create favorable conditions for the unmarried singer to look for a lover.
Sun God Worship Festival
The worship to the Sun God occurs at the beginning of the summer. The Lahus say that this is the very day when the sun offers the largest amount of light in a year. In the morning, women take the bamboo basket filled with popcorns. While dancing, they spread them around the village center to pray for the bumper harvest. After then, men, with long swords in hand, start beating gongs and drums and walk in line toward the slope. They go to the ancestral temple at the foot of the Sun God Temple, burn joss sticks and kowtow to worship the ancestors. Afterward, they go to the Sun God Temple, stay in line, and hold the ritual. As the flamen incants, people spread popcorns while singing and dancing. When the sun sets, the flamen finishes the incantation and people scatter all the popcorns, the worship winds up.
Shizhu Festival
After January 3 of each lunar calendar year, the Kucongs are busy with the preparation of the offerings. They will choose a fine day in January to worship the Shizhu. On the day, the participants of the worship are all male. They have to take bath, dress in new clothes and present their offerings during the ceremony of the Three Gun Fires commanded by assigned person. To follow, people will properly deal with the offerings. Even a piece of grain has to be distributed to each family, so that they can share the luck, which will bring a bumper harvest in the coming year.
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