The legendary Fairy Festival of Nu people

To memorize their legendary girl Arong, Nu people celebrate the Fairy Festival every year on the fifteenth day in the third month of lunar calendar by holding many unique activities.

Legend has it that there is once an industrious girl named Arong who invented the zipline for Nu people to travel across rivers and split the Gaoligong Mountain to channel water to irrigate fields. Therefore the locals dubbed Arong a fairy.

However, a scoundrel headman forced Arong to marry him because of her beauty and reputation. Arong hid herself in a cave but was burnt to death by the headman. After her death, some Nu people believed she had become the daughter of the moon while others said she had turned into azalea all over the mountains to guard the local people. From then on, Nu people hold the Fairy Festival to honor Arong. 

During the Fairy Festival, Nu people will put on their traditional festive costumes and take oblations such as wine, meat, corns together with flowers to worship the fairy in the cave. They believe the fairy will release the holy water and make their dream come true.

In present days, activities like singing folk songs, climbing mountains, weaving, crossbow shooting and sports competitions are also included in the festival.

Editor: Wang Shixue