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The Dongs are distributed in Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi provinces. They take agriculture as the prime industry. Their agriculture is mainly paddy. The Dongs have their own language.The Chinese is common in use today. The Dongs excel in architecture.
Dong Year
The Dong Year is the traditional festival of the Dongs. The Dongs in the Rongjiang River celebrate the Dong Year from the end of October to early November of the lunar calendar. Prior to the festival, every family does cleaning, slaughters swine and sheep.
On the festival, people dress up, dancing with the Lusheng melody (a reed-wind instrument), organizing a collective dance party and bull-fighting. The celebration is held one month later in Jinping area, where similar large entertainments take place, and people visit their friends and relatives as well as arrange weddings.
Spring Festival
On the festival, people eat rice and dishes cooked on the day before, indicating the surplus from the previous year and surplus of every year. On the second day, women in the village will go to worship and pray for god's blessing. On the third day, there will be the Dong opera or Dragon play. Friends and relatives invite each other to drink the New Year wine. Boys play with girls, kick shuttlecock or amuse themselves in the field. The Spring Festival will not end until January 15 of the first lunar month when people send off the dragon to the sea.
Sama Festival (Sa-Worship Festival)
The 1stto 2ndmonth of the lunar calendar is the Sama Festival. It is the oldest and biggest festival of the Dongs, which is the continuity of the culture in the matrilineal society. The word Sama is in the Dong's language. The word Sa refers to grandmother, and ma means the oldest. Sama means great grandmother. The adoration of the goddess originates from the matrilineal society. The Sa is both the superior and leader of the clan. The Sama Festival is to worship the goddess of the Dongs.
Bull-Fighting Festival
The Dongs have passion for the bull fighting. Every village breeds the bull king designated to the game. The bullpen of the bull -king is normally built near the drum-tower, as it is clean and ventilated. Hence it is also named bull palace. A person is specially assigned to supply it with forage grass and water. Food such as honey, lard, rice wine is provided indeed. The bull king is big and strong with sharp horns like open forks.
On the Hai date (the last of the twelve Earthly Branches), February and August of each lunar year takes place the Bull-Fighting Festival of the Dongs. Prior to the festival, the young people, playing the Lusheng, will go to other villages to invite their rivals. After sending the invitation of the challenge, they go to the Bull Palace and playing the Lusheng in front of it. The worship is to be made three days to cultivate the bull's mood. Once the festival comes off, people gather around the game spot. The contest bull kings start taking first round to the accompaniment of Lusheng. A young man, perky and arrogant, holds a horse card that reads Bull King, and walks in front of it. The guard team and band follow the horse card. The horn of the bull king wears a bright iron harness. Its head is wrapped with red satin. It has a Bull King Pagoda on its back, where 4 command banners and 2 long pheasant feathers are planted, just like the general of the ancient times.
When the inauguration is finished, the bulls exeunt. There are three bangs as the canon is fired. The fight begins in a formal way. The cowboys respectively throw two fires in front of the bull king and unlash the halter. Two bulls charge to each other. The viewers cheer by beating drums and gongs. It is allowed for the girls to rob the color banner from the loser. The winner bull king will reappear on the ground to celebrate its victory. In case they fight to deuce, they have to be interrupted by hitching the rear leg of the bull with palm rope and compromise.
A string of bell hangs on the bull' neck and suspends on the chest and plinks. A few days later, the girls from the winner will remand the color banner to the loser. Boys from the loser will arrange a feast for reception and a party where they sing with the girls in antiphonal style. The redeemed banner will be a gift in return. The glory belongs to the village, which owns the bull winner. Hence there are celebration and entertainments after the bull fighting. In recent years, the bull kings from the Dongs in Guizhou Province were given the chance to display their wrestle in some big cities so as to make this special entertainment culture more popular.
Fireworks Festival
It is a spectacular festival of the Dongs once a year. Whenever in the festival, everyone dresses up and hurries from the villages to the fireworks ground to enjoy the sight of the heart-quaked spectacular. The fireworks of the Dongs are categorized into three classes: the initial, secondary and the third. Each of these fireworks wears an iron ring wrapped with red and green threads symbolizing the happiness and luck. When setting off, the iron ring, powered by the impulsive force, is launched to the air. When it falls, the fireworks team of each village will strive to scramble for the target, wherefrom the Fireworks Grabbing came.
According to the custom, the one who got the fireworks will be safe and healthy in the year, so they act bravely in grapping for fireworks. People contest to get the fireworks so as to win the honor for their own villages. There is no deadline time for the game; the one, who hands the firework to the command platform, will be the winner. Then the contest is over, which announces the commencement of various entertainments. The Lusheng teams hold a playing contest; the elders display their thrushes and have a chat; boys and girls take their good chances to court by singing. The festival atmosphere animates the Dong's villages.
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