With the arrival of spring, people eagerly gear up for the planting season. On March 10^th, Yao Autonomous County of Ruyuan, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, celebrated its 2024 "Second Lunar Month Beginning" Kaigeng Festival, marking the beginning of a year's spring plowing.

The "Second Lunar Month Beginning" festival, which is on the first day of China's second lunar month, is part of the "Double Beginning Festival" recognized as a provincial intangible cultural heritage, marking the start of the Yao people's farming season, with plowing in the second lunar month and harvesting in the tenth lunar month. During the "Second Lunar Month Beginning" festival, Yao communities celebrate by frying sticky rice cakes. Following this feast, they mend their agricultural tools, scatter rice cakes across the fields, and ignite candles and incense in homage to nature, seeking blessings for good weather and a prosperous harvest. A unique aspect of the celebration is the "Sealing the Birds' Beaks" practice, where rice cakes are fed to birds to prevent them from feasting on the seeds.

The event was packed with engaging activities, including traditional plowing rituals, showcases of intangible cultural heritage, and competitive Yao ethnic mountain songs. Running from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.,it buzzed with energy and festivity.

During the festival, the air was alive with song and dance, enveloping everyone in the joyous spirit unique to this vibrant ethnic celebration, brimming with the genuine allure of Yao culture. In the heart of the spring wilderness, Yao priests and esteemed elder song masters set the plowing ceremony in motion, engaging in rituals like feeding birds and oxen, and offering prayers for well-being and abundance.

After the ceremony, the oxen were guided into the fields to begin plowing, etching the inaugural furrow of spring—a gesture that heralded the onset of the farming season and carried hopes for a bountiful and fragrant harvest.

In a parade displaying their rich intangible cultural heritage, variousgroupsincluding Yao priests, singers, dragon dancers, Yao dance troupes, farmers with traditional tools, individuals adorned in Yao attire, and spring ox dancers made their way to the fields. Their lively dances and unique songs, with the backdrop of traditional folk music, were a celebration of the Yao community's ethnic spirit of hard work, kindness, respect for nature, and agricultural wisdom.

The plowing ceremony was adorned with Yao mountain music, performed by inheritors of Yao folk music, including Zhao Xinrong, Zhao Caifu, and Deng Xiangying, recognized from national to provincial and local levels. Furthermore, prominent priests and Yao song masters such as Deng Liangyin and Deng Guilan, both provincial-level inheritors recognized for their contributions to the Double Beginning Festival and Yao attire respectively, were invited to enrich the atmosphere with authentic mountain duets. Their performances blended into a melody-rich backdrop, adding a hint of poetry to the lively spring day.

Source :Yangcheng Evening News

韶关乳源举办瑶族“二月朝”开耕节

人勤春来早，春耕备耕忙。3月10日，乳源瑶族自治县2024年“二月朝”开耕节活动举办。

“二月朝”是省级非物质文化遗产《双朝节》中的一个节日，双朝节体现的是瑶族一年中农耕的生产周期，二月开耕，十月丰收。二月初一这天，瑶民做油炸糍粑，吃了油糍后，修理好农具，带上糍粑抛到田野上，点燃蜡烛香火，祭拜大自然，祈求新的一年风调雨顺，岁稔年丰，同时，用糍粑敬奉鸟，又称“封鸟咀节”。

此次活动内容丰富多彩，设有传统开耕祭祀仪式、非遗巡游展示展演、瑶族山歌对唱等项目，整场活动从9时持续到12时，气氛热烈，热闹非凡。

活动当天，大家载歌载舞，沉浸在欢庆的海洋里，这是一场独具特色民族风格的开耕节，处处弥漫着原生态瑶族风情。在旷野春色里，瑶族师爷歌姆开启开耕祭祀仪式，并进行喂鸟、喂牛环节，祈求平安顺利、五谷丰登。

祭祀仪式结束后，将耕牛带到田里犁地，开启春耕第一犁，寓意春耕开启，祝愿禾黍飘香。

通过非遗巡游展示的形式，组成了瑶族师爷歌姆队、舞龙队、瑶舞队、农耕道具队、瑶族服饰队、舞春牛队走向田间地头，用欢快的舞姿，特色的歌声，在原生态民乐的伴奏下，载歌载舞，展示瑶族人民勤奋耕耘、善良朴实、尊重自然、利用自然的民族精神和民族智慧。

瑶歌唱开耕，瑶族山歌对唱环节邀请了瑶族民歌国家级非遗传承人赵新容、省级传承人赵才付、县级传承人邓香英等在场献艺，还邀请到师爷双朝节省级传承人邓良银、瑶族服饰省级传承人邓桂兰等歌姆歌王以即兴对唱的方式为群众献上原生态的山歌，时而高亢明亮，时而悠扬宛转，歌声无限，韵味无限，为这个热闹的春日增添了诗意的气息。

文、图 | 记者 欧阳志强 通讯员 罗丹 林遥轩
翻译｜郑圣浩