Guizhou celebrates the Huashu Festival to welcome Chinese New Year

Miao people gather to celebrate the Huashu Festival in the first lunar month. [Photo/ddcpc website]

Every year from the third to the seventh day of the first lunar month, the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou's Guanling county holds a traditional festival called the Huashu Festival or the Flower Tree Festival.

It is the grandest and most joyful festival of the year for the Miao people. During this festival, Miao people gather under decorated trees to sing and dance, making the Huashu Festival a unique tradition to welcome in the Chinese New Year.

The festival usually features a grand traditional ceremony that includes planting flower trees on the third day of the first lunar month. They then sing and dance around these flower trees on the fourth day of the first lunar month. They pull down the flower trees on the seventh day of the first lunar month.

The annual festival is also a great opportunity for young people to express their love and make friends. During these days, young men and women dress up to sing and dance, playing reed pipes and harmonicas, searching for their ideal partners. Many young people find their true love during this festival.

In 2012, the Huashu Festival was selected as county-level intangible cultural heritage.

In Guanling's Baiyan village and Xiangyang village, preparations for this year's Huashu Festival are in full swing. This Spring Festival holiday, the festival is sure to be a cultural delight.