Love actually, is all around China
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It is White Valentine's Day. White Day is a reciprocal day when men give gifts to those who gave to them during the previous month. The return gift is usually white chocolates or marshmallows, hence the name White Day. Once originated in Japan, the festival has moved to other Asian countries and is gaining worldwide popularity.
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The white day of love is just around the corner and an untold number of lovers will feel the reciprocal love from the other side. In fact, in the cultural reservoir of Chinese ethnic minorities, there are also assorted Chinese-styled Valentine's Days replete with traditional love and amusing charm. Love, actually, is all around China.
The Sister Festival of Miao nationality: the Oldest Valentine's Day of China
The Sister Festival, or the Sister Rice Festival, held annually by girls on the 15th day of the third lunar month, is one of the most active festivals of the Miao people in Taijiang, Shibing and Jianhe County, Guizhou Province. The date of the festival is different according to the place. The ceremony is simple, unsophisticated, and distinctive and the Sister Festival in Shidong, Taijiang County on Qingshui River is the most representative.
Girls, who are the center of the festival, invite their sweethearts to eat Sister Rice, play a drum, dance, sing, give tokens to each other, and get engaged, expressing love between the guys and the girls during the course of changing from the matriarchal clan society to the patriarchal clan society. In the festival, there are centuries-old songs and dances, dragon dances and bull fighting activities. The interaction between the tranquil and soothing rural life and the modern tours seeking nature are likened to "the festival hidden in the pistil," which is "the oldest oriental Valentine's Day" and is becoming a brilliant landscape in the modern tourism economy in Southwest China.
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The antiphonal singing of Bai nationality: Love song from the butterfly spring
At the foot of Yunnong Peak, there is a beautiful spring called butterfly spring. On the 25th day of the fourth lunar month every year, the spring isdotted bylarge numbers of butterflies. It is also the day when Bai peoples’ Valentine's Day is held.
On that day, all the young people flock to the butterfly spring from all directions, singing antiphonally and trying to impress potential lovers. The two that have instant chemistry may head to the March Street to select traditional decorations of all kinds, taste home-made cakes and fish soup, and later in the day, they go aboard a boat to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Ersea, as a token of their genuine affection.
