What is the tree festival of the Gelao nationality?

Traditional Gelao Festival: Tree Worship Festival

"Tree Worship Festival" is a traditional festival of Gelao people and an important part of Gelao culture. Many people mistakenly think that "Tree Worship Festival" can be any tree. In fact, not all trees are worshipped in the' Tree Worship Festival' of the Gelao people. The Gelao people only worship the green bar tree, because the green bar tree is the ancestor tree of the Gelao people.

Gelao people sacrifice trees on the 14th day of the first lunar month. Before the festival, six families were responsible for raising money to buy sacrifices. A man pushed the stone mill three times, informed the mountain god, walked around the streets and shouted "Long Dao".

During the festival, the huts with a height of 1m and a width of 1m were tied to the mountain with birch branches, placed under the Great God tree, inserted with triangular Caiqi Yang, and led chickens, pigs and sheep to slaughter and sacrifice around the tree for three times, and lit incense, candles and paper. The mountain god was invited to sit down and offer sacrifices. The teacher murmured that the whole family knelt down and prayed for God's blessing and abundant food. This festival makes many villages of Gelao nationality still have thousands of ancient trees.

On tree worship day, every household will bring wine, meat, glutinous rice and firecrackers, and take turns to "worship" the trees in front of and behind the house. They hope that the trees will flourish, the fruit trees will harvest, the weeds around the roots will be eradicated, and the soil will be dug up. They choose a big tree on the distant mountain as a "representative" to worship. After Arbor Day, the whole village spontaneously carried out afforestation activities, forming a custom.

Gelao people worship trees, not all trees, only Qinggang Tree. Because the green bar tree is the ancestor tree of the Gelao nationality, it is related to the migration of the Gelao nationality in history.

Legend has it that the Gelao people in Anshun, Guizhou and other places migrated to Longlin, Guangxi in ancient times. The "big house" of the Gelao nationality takes the incense burner and spiritual position of ancestors as the first place. The roads they walked were marked with leaves, which were signposts for those who came back. The "big house" always observes the surrounding mountains and rivers while walking, looking for a good place for the Gelao people to settle down, build their homes and thrive. He walked from mountain to mountain and from village to village. I don't know how many days he walked and finally fell in love with a place.

I see green trees and trees everywhere. "Grass is 10% off, trees are 10% off, burning straw can cultivate land, digging ridges can make land, herbivores have water plants, and forestry is the first choice." This is really a good place for development. Dawu found himself in Xiachongtun, Moji Village, Dea Township, Longlin County, and decided to settle down here.

People living in Xiachongtun warmly received this "big room". If there is no house, you can spare half a room for the old guests. This "big room" is grateful. However, when he saw the ancestral throne of his master's family in the hall, he couldn't help worrying: where is the ancestral throne he brought? It is against the custom if one's ancestors live in harmony with the host's family.

The "big house" couldn't make up its mind for a moment, so it had to walk out of the stockade gloomily. When he walked out of the stockade, he saw two tall and strong green trees facing the blue sky. The "big house" can't help but stop and observe. The trunks of these two trees are hard and big and will not be blown down by the storm. Their dense branches and leaves can't be completely exposed to the hot summer sun.

Their strong, tenacious and indomitable spirit makes the "big house door" more and more popular and moving. They can't help singing loudly: green trees, green trees, deep roots and lush leaves, cool. Blocking the sun and rain, Grau's spirit still has room! As soon as this folk song was sung, my heart lit up. This "big room" immediately found a knife and an axe, punched a hole in each of the two trees, and stored the ancestors' souls in the tree holes.

Since then, the Gelao people in Longlin have worshipped the green bar tree as their ancestors for generations.

Why do you worship trees on August 15th? There is also a reason for this. The "big house" was the first one to rush down, thinking that the Gelao people who moved later would find it along the road signs it posted. Who knows, those road signs made of leaves were quickly eaten up by livestock. People behind can't see the road sign, so they look around for their "big house". If they can't be found, they will settle down by themselves.

It took the Gelao people scattered around Longlin a long time to know where the "big house" was to be built. In order to commemorate our ancestors, the whole family discusses major festivals every year, so everyone consciously assumes the obligations entrusted by the festivals.

For example, sacrificial cows are donated by three families in turn every year, or in partnership or fund-raising. These three families gave birth to cows this year, and it will be the turn of the other three families to give birth next year, and so on. A few days before ancestor worship, the cow was slaughtered for dinner. Except for the locals, all ethnic groups in the nearby stockade were invited to dinner. At the dinner, I only ate food and drinks such as beef offal, and kept the heart of the cow to worship the ancestral tree until August 15. According to the average distribution of beef among the people attending the dinner party, everyone was taken home.

When offering sacrifices to ancestral trees, the "big house" is the main sacrifice. First, two cocks weighing half a catty were twisted off their necks and their wings, feet and hearts were torn off as sacrifices. Gong Zu Tree puts the chicken's head, wings and feet on the left, while Zhu Boshu also puts the chicken's head, wings and feet on the right. Wrapped in red paper, they were sent to the tree holes of ancestors and daughters respectively. Then sealed the tree hole with paper money. The "big room" knelt under the tree of ancestors to pray, toast, fire guns and have dinner. Cattle hearts were distributed to households.

There are strict rules for the distribution of cattle hearts: only the "big room" of each family in the family is distributed; The cow heart was cut into "big rooms" with as many pieces as there were people, and everyone could only get one piece. The younger generation and women are not allowed to enjoy it.