Watch Gorgeous Silver Rings In Chinese Miao’s Moon Dance Festival
The Miao minority group living in southwest China are known for their colorful ethnic costumes and big, unique silver rings. During big holidays like the Moon Dance Festival, Miao women will wear rich attire to proudly show their beauty and elegance. The Moon Dance Festival is also a good time for young single people to seek for their life partners. Men play their special Lusheng musical instrument, with women singing and dancing around with the silver rings and other silver jewelry. The festival is held three times a year, respectively in lunar January, June, and August. Here is a story about the origin of this festival.
Once upon a time, there were two brothers who lived on the mountain. Every day, the elder brother went to chop wood, and the younger brother went fishing. Then they went to the market to sell their products. They led a simple but happy life.
Enjoying music very much, the elder brother always liked to find some bulrush and bamboo when he chopped wood in the forest. He then made them into a pipe. While he blew it, the pipe produced beautiful sound. Day after day, the elder brother collected lots of pipes. One day, he selected some of these pipes, and blew them one by one. Each pipe made different and unique sound. The elder said to himself, ” What music it would produce, if I play all these pipes together.”
One day when he chopped a kiri plant, he found the inside of the kiri was hollow. He drilled some holes in one side of this kiri wood, and put the pipes into the holes. He then blew into the kiri. Immediately the kiri made several different sounds concurrently. After studying this carefully, he eventually made a nice musical instrument which could make beautiful melodies with various tones. This instrument was later called Lusheng. The beautiful music of Lusheng attracted many people, young and old, men and women. Even the birds and animals in the mountain enjoyed this sweet and touching music.
A female tiger resided in a cave close by. She was intoxicated by the music, and hoped to own the elder brother. So she could enjoy the music anytime when she wanted. One day, the tiger changed into a lady with a few rings on her fingers, and walked into the brothers’ home stealthily. She ate some dried fish in the kitchen.
When the two brothers came home and saw the tiger, they were very angry, ” Why are you here and eat our fish?” The tiger replied, ” Your fish was really delicious! And now I want you to go with me!” The tiger held the elder brother, and escaped. The younger brother tried to get his brother back, but failed. The elder brother was taken away. When they left, the younger brother saw a tail under the lady’s skirt. So he realized the lady was actually a tiger.
The younger brother went to call the villagers together. Arming with bows and arrows, they set out to look for the elder brother in the mountains. But one month passed, they still couldn’t find the brother. One day when they walked up to the top of the mountain, they heard a bird singing, ” Come here, come here!” They followed the sound, and got to a cave where the elder brother was kept. The younger brother and villagers killed the tiger, and rescued the elder brother.
The elder brother played the Lusheng music to express his excited feelings, with the villagers sang and danced around him.
Since then, Lusheng musical instrument started to be popular in the Miao area. In lunar January, June, and August, people get together with men playing Lusheng music, and women dancing around with elaborate silver rings on their fingers. The activity is often held in the evening when there is a bright moon in the sky. So the festival is called ” the Moon Dance Festival”. It also has a nickname ” Looking For Brother Festival”. The women’s silver rings shine especially beautifully in the moonlight.
Writer Clare L. writes about the world’s silver jewelry, especially silver rings. The Miao silver rings she specializes in are popular almost everywhere. To let her know what you think, check out the silver rings here.
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