Diverse Spring Festival customs in Yunnan

Hot-spring bath & sword-ladder climbing

On the first three days of the first Chinese lunar month, the cotton trees are in red blossom, and the Lisu folks in northwest Yunnan’s Nujiang valley usher in the hot-spring bath, a major festivity for locals. Taking the family members, they gather at the hot-spring sites for a collective bath. Old or young, men and women, all sink themselves in the steaming waters.

Unlike the indoors hot-spring baths, the Lisu collective bath is held in the wilderness. In the outdoor hot-spring pond, they either play tricks on each other or gaze at the towering peaks afar, enjoying their time to the fullest. In the eyes of Lisu folks, the collective hot-spring bath can wash away their weariness and nuisances, so that they can have a brand new profile in the new year. So far, the hot-spring bath has evolved into an inclusive festivity where tourists from varied places can join local Lisu folks for fun.

The daily hot-spring bath continues until darkness falls, when it is followed by the sword-ladder climbing. Near illuminating campfires, the thrilling activity is performed by Lisu young men, who tread onto the sharp swords barefooted and climb onto the top of the sword-ladder step by step. Having gone through strict training, the brave performers are unlikely to be cut by the swords, and their amazing shows win big applause from the tourists. As cheers and praises resound in the Nujiang valley, the festival air has been lifted to new height.

Reunion dinner of Mosuo people

In traditional Chinese culture, the annual reunion dinner is a grand occasion for family members to get together. In the Walabie village of Ninglang County, northwest Yunnan’s Lijiang City, the Mosuo housewives prepare the family reunion dinner in the format of 16 dishes, mostly meat dishes.

At the dawn of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the Mosuo housewife, also called Dalachu in the Mosuo language, begins to make fire and get water boiled for the reunion dinner. She is so busy that there is barely time left for her to talk with the husband and other relatives.

At around 5:00 pm, the firecrackers begin to sound in the village, and it’s time for the family reunion dinner. Having been busy for a whole day, Dalachu brings the dishes one after another onto the dinner table, with her son standing nearby to count the dish number. When an old-fashioned square table for eight diners is fully occupied, the boy exclaims: “16 dishes, they’re all here now.”

The dishes are mostly meat, including chicken cooked with ham, bacon fried with pepper, fried pork ribs and others. All the meat pieces look big enough for a mouthful. “Walabie used to be a remote and impoverished village near the Lugu Lake, and people would save the best food for the reunion dinner,” said the housewife. Now the villagers have bettered off thanks to rural tourism that rests on Mosuo culture and hot springs, but the tradition of 16-dish dinner for the annual family reunion persists.

The Mosuo people do not divide up family property and live apart, so it is common to see four generations under one roof. At the reunion dinner table, the bacon and rice cake are first passed to the grandmother of lofty virtue. Then the whole family begin to enjoy the delicacies and the Dalachu housewife serves the homemade Sulima wine. A sip of the slightly sweet wine would break down the grease in the mouth, making it the finishing taste of the dinner. A reunion dinner filled with cultural sentiments goes far beyond the dishes themselves.

Following a nourishing dinner, the family members sit around the fire pit for a bacon barbecue, and the Dalachu housewife says: “For the adult females in Walabie, learning to arrange the reunion dinner is seen as something of great importance.” Since childhood, the mother and grandmother have taught her on cooking dinner, and Dalachu has fully appreciated the skills in relevance. Deep at night, Walabie is still sleepless with all lights on, and families sit around the fire pit for warm talks. Dalachu and the husband plans to turn the house into a rural holiday inn for tourists, with the Mosuo cultural elements displayed in the guest rooms.

Reporting by Duan Jianxin and Gong Jingyang (Yunnan Tourism & Culture Times); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue