Hani New Year: Enjoy long-street banquet

During the Angmatu Festival of Hani people, they often hold long-street banquet in the Main Street of every village, attracting tourists both at home and abroad.

In southeast Yunnan’s Yuanyang County, the Hani people take the first dragon day of the last month on their ten-month calendar as the beginning of the New Year. When it comes, they celebrate the Angmatu Festival, which is as grandest as the Spring Festival and lasts 3 to 5 days. And this year, the festival fell on January 9 to 11 on the solar calendar. 

Every year during the festival, after a divine ceremony to pray for favorable weather for crops in the coming year on the first day, the Hani people hold big banquets in the main street in every village, where they propose toast in turns and wish each other good luck and happiness. 

In order to prepare for the banquet, every household get up early in the morning, cook the best dishes as they can and bring them in bamboo baskets to the banquet which is so large that many tables are laid end to end along the street like a colorful dragon. Sometimes, the banquet may last one hundred meters long. So it is also called "long-street Banquet”. In recent years, as Yuanyang gets popular among tourists because of the the UNESCO world cultural heritage—Honghe Hani Terraced Fields, some foreigners also come to take part in the festival and experience the unique Hani culture.

Yuanyang is the core area of the Honghe Hani Terraced Fields. At this time of winter, it is the best time to visit the Terraced Fields. With paddies filled with water after the harvest in autumn, the heritage site presents spectacular views and becomes a paradise for photography lovers at sunrise and sunset when boundless red clouds roll over the stair-like fields.