October 1 of the lunar calendar is regarded
as the Spring Festival of the Qiangs. The feast of the Spring Festival is also
named Harvest Wine.
On the festival, all people of the village
will go to the Devine Forest to fulfill their promises and burn joss sticks to
worship their ancestors and the Heaven God. The offerings include dumpling made
of buckwheat flour, chopped meat and bean curd. In other cases, various
sacrifices are made like different animals, cattle, sheep, horses and
chooks.
On the next day, the family feast is to be
held. Married daughters will go back to their parents' home. Besides, various
festal entertainments will be held.
The worship to the mountains of the village
is aimed to pray for a good harvest. Excluding the married women, who are not
allowed to participate, all people of the village have to participate in the
worship with wine, meat and steamed buns. The emcee will be served in turn by
every family in the village. On the occasion, the emcee has to prepare a
blackbuck, a red feather cock, a jar of wine, 1.5 kg pork, 5 kg highland barley,
6.5 kg large buns made of flour, incenses, candles, firecrackers, paper made to
resemble money and burned as an offering to the dead, which are lined up
according to the practice. The necromancer will preside over the worship, and
pray to the Mountain and Heaven Gods to bless the whole village with longevity
and a bumper harvest. Afterward, a goat is slaughtered, cooked and distributed
with other food to every family, which, in the past, was called Sanfenzi.
Finally all people will sit on the ground and taste the food offered by
others.