Hongjiang in ancient time was part of the so-called Wuxi Barbarian Land, where lived Miao and Yao people who practiced simple folk customs. Even with the migration of Hakka people, who later became the majority of town dwellers, traditional ethnic customs were followed, including respecting the elderly, being hospitable, preferring boys over girls, worshipping ancestors and gods, and choosing auspicious dates for wedding and funeral.

Festival customs      

Spring Festival: commonly known as “the Chinese New Year”. During the Spring Festival, in the early hours on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, the whole family pays homage to Heaven and Earth and the family ancestors, and have the family reunion dinner in the evening. According to local custom of Hongjiang, sons and unmarried daughters pay a new year visit to elders on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, sons-in-law pay a new year visit to their parents-in-law and other elders on the second day, married daughters pay a new year visit to their parents on the third or fourth day.

Lantern Festival: at the festival, families light up their handmade lanterns and hangs them out, and the whole town will be lit up. At midnight, the whole family eats sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour. Streets and alleys are filled with colorful lanterns such as dragon lanterns, lion lanterns, shell-shaped lanterns and lotus lanterns which draw a large audience.

Qingming Festival: people commemorate and show respect to their ancestors by visiting their graves. If the festival falls in the third month of the lunar calendar, people will visit the graves of their ancestors prior to the festival; if the festival is in the second month of the lunar calendar, the visits will occur after the festival.

Dragon Boat Festival: it falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. During the festival, people arrange various plants to dispel pathogens and disease. Hanging mugwort and calamus is an integral part of the Dragon Boat Festival. Drinking realgar wine is another prevalent custom. Realgar wine is a kind of liquor or yellow wine made by soaking realgar powder. As realgar can be used as an antidote and insecticide, people drink realgar wine to keep diseases away. Locals also preserve garlic covered with lard soaking in realgar wine for medicine.

(Translated by Yang Hong)