March 3rd is now a traditional festival for multiple ethnic minorities, and each year there are some grand celebrations. So what is the name of the March 3rd festival for the Zhuang people? By the time of the third month in the lunar calendar, the late spring cold snap has officially ended, and the weather becomes warm. What important days are there in the March of the 2022 lunar calendar? Let's take a look at Huayi Network together.

What is the name of the Zhuang people's March 3rd festival?

In Guangxi, the Zhuang people's March 3rd is called the "Ge Xu Festival." In the legend of the Zhuang people, "March 3rd" is the birthday of the ancestor of the Zhuang people, Buluo tuo. In Guangxi, the third day of the third lunar month is not only a traditional Qingming festival for the Zhuang people, but also an important day for the Zhuang people to worship their ancestors, worship Pan Gu, and honor their ancestral forefather Buluo tuo. Every time the March 3rd comes, young men and women of the Zhuang people gather on the streets to sing joyfully and meet by the riverside for banquets. At the same time, "Zhuang March 3rd" is not only an important traditional festival for the Zhuang people, but also a traditional festival for the Han, Yao, Dong, Miao and other ethnic groups in Guangxi. According to records, the March 3rd song festival has a history of more than a thousand years. The development of Zhuang mountain songs is particularly prominent, and song meetings are very popular. In ancient times, young men and women gathered on the streets or by the river to hold banquets and sing joyfully.

What activities do people hold?

1. Making Five-color Glutinous Rice
Before the March 3rd festival, every household prepares five-color glutinous rice and colored eggs. People collect red lan grass, yellow rice flowers or gardenia, maple leaves, purple sweet potato vines, and use the juice of these plants to soak glutinous rice to make red, yellow, black, purple, and white five-color glutinous rice.
2. Competing for the Firecracker
On the third day of the third lunar month and after the autumn harvest, some ethnic minority areas in Guangxi organize spontaneous competitions for the firecracker. Each team has 8 members, and the players break through, block people, change direction, and rush quickly to enter the opponent's base and put the firecracker in to score.
3. Passing the Embroidered Ball
The embroidered balls in the Ge Xu are handicrafts made by the girls before the festival. The craftsmanship is exquisite, all of them are silk handicrafts, with twelve petal-shaped parts connected into a spherical shape, each petal representing a certain month of the year, and the flowers of that month are embroidered on it. Some embroidered balls are made into square or multi-angled shapes. Inside the ball, there are beans or cotton seeds. A silk ribbon is attached to the ball, with tassels and beads hanging down, symbolizing pure love.
4. Beating the Flat Stick
Beating the flat stick is a traditional self-entertainment activity. Every Zhuang person is an actor in the "beating the flat stick" performance. Women's movements are light and graceful, while men's movements are strong and powerful. The self-entertainment "beating the flat stick" expresses the Zhuang people's hope for a bountiful harvest.
5. Singing and Falling in Love
The "March 3rd" Ge Xu is a good opportunity for young men and women to socialize. Every time there is a Ge Xu, young men and women from dozens of miles around gather at the Ge Xu site.