Festivals

Every traditional society has its festivals. They are like public cultural statements. The less assimilated a people are the more festivals and open ceremonies they are likely to have. Even modernised societies stage annual collective events. And the more sinicised ethnic groups in Yunnan retain at least one major traditional festival, providing at least one opportunity every year for people to publicly proclaim their ethnic identity and give vent to the lingering lure of their traditions. For some participants this may be the only occasion they will dress in the ethnic style and sing in their own language, or participate in rituals that they would ordinarily feign not to believe in.

The big festivals stir the ethnic soul because they are such visible reminders of the people's heritage. Collective celebrations reaffirm the solidarity and relationships of family, clan and tribe. They allow the individual to bond with a larger group. They are a venue for the declamation of shared values and ethnic pride. And so they are eagerly anticipated every year, for traditionally only good things happen during festivals. The particular reason for having the festival is almost incidental.

These reasons vary considerably. Some festivals mark seasonal events, like New Year, rice-planting time, harvest, etc. Others honour particular deities or cultural-historical heroes. Some resemble nature-worship rites, while others feature rituals for ancestral and guardian spirits. Some are for children, or to mark the end sof puberty or to honour the elderly. While every big festival by its public nature provides the chance for young love to blossom, some peoples have festivals specifically designed to provoke that.

Except for a few more widely observed festivals like New Year, the Torch Festival of the Yi, Bai and Naxi, the Sanduo Festival of all the Naxi, the Jingpo Munao and the Water-Sprinkling Festival of the De'ang and all Dai groups, most of the big festivals in the province take place in the restricted areas inhabited by the nationalities. Or else they are celebrated by a single sub-group of a major ethnic community and observed only in one county, maybe even just one particular township.

In many of the autonomous counties and prefectures the biggest annual festival is government-subsidised, which usually means the county or prefectural capital sponsors public events like parades and music and dance shows. City authorities arrange accommodations for village performers whom they bus in from distant parts of the county. Shows may also include local primary and middle school troupes, speeches and other non-traditional intrusions, yet the music and dance is authentic. And the ethnic spirit is as evident here as it is in the totally ethnic mountain villages.

Most minority nationality dances are of the line or ring type. Usually the males dance in one group, the females in another. Occasionally the choreography includes arm and body movements in addition to steps. Dances in the north, and those involving both sexes together in the south, are usually vigourous numbers. Slower, more decorative gestures and movements are the feature of Dai women performers. These dances will be accompanied by a small orchestra with flutes, drums, xylophones, bells, etc. The up tempo group numbers usually have a drummer and one or more on flute, gourd-pipe or 3-string guitar.

Tibetan monks and Naxi dongbas stage religious dances. The movements are often slow and deliberate, with exaggerated steps and sword-wielding motions. They are always costumed affairs and in the Tibetan case include dancers wearing large, sometimes grotesque masks.
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