Last sunny Saturday, I got a call from my friend in Leishan who told me there would be a Miao New Year festival in the Leigong mountains, which includes rural Miao villages in Leishan and Taijiang. The official Miao New Year Celebration had already passed for 20 days, but the party was still going on in the villages.
Yes, my guess was very right, this experience was absolutely a highlight. In the late afternoon, we arrived at a township via Leishan called Fangxiang, a very authentic Miao village built right on a steep mountain. I was received with open arms by the locals, and of course, they offered lots and of rice wine.
A group was dancing with a bronze drum, and there were huge Lusheng pipes. We were only outsiders at the villages, and people there dragged us to go dance with them and tried to teach us the steps.
We started to hike around 9am and OMG, today’s hiking is FANTASTIC, plus a beautiful sunny day. We hiked through fields, pine forests, villages, and a crystal stream where we had a kebab picnic, which was tons of fun. We hiked for almost an entire day and by the time we got to the next village, it was almost dark.
We had reached Baibang Short Skirt Miao village, where we were dragged by the locals for another evening of celebrations and a bit more rice wine. No matter whether they know you or not, they cherish every single guest. For dinner, we were invited over to the villager head’s house for dinner and had delicious fresh pork. The dinner we had with the locals was over 15 people, including the villager leaders and their wives. While we ate, we were treated as VIP guests. After dinner, they sang to us and more and more neighbors kept coming to offer us, because they heard party leader’s home had guests.
After several hours eating, we went to see their dancing. The costume of the Baibang is very distinctive from other shortskirt Miao. The locals had been farming for a entire year, so it’s such a great time to rest and have some good food. I wished badly that you everyone at WildChina could be here witnessing. Such a great great great time. In Guizhou, they have a warm heart, heavy heritage, beautiful costumes and wonderful smiling…
Now, it’s back to Guiyang where my lovely daughter awaits… But I found my mind is not back yet, all the images in my brains are villagers, laughter, rice wine and singing,…
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An account from a recent trip in Guizhou from WildChina expert guide, Xiao. To learn more about Xiao and see a quick clip from Guizhou, please see here.
If you are interested to see Guizhou’s festivals for yourself, we would strongly suggest looking at Sisters’ Meals Festival which takes this year from April 5-7, 2012. More questions? Please contact info@wildchina.com.
