Sister Meal Festival: Courting Etiquette Of Asia's Best Silver Jewels Artisans
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A country made up of 56 ethnic minority groups, China is known for some of the world's quaintest and most captivating courting customs. Those still popular in the Miao tribes today are just one fine example.
The people lives in the remote and long-forgotten mountainous areas of southern China, and with a silver jewel crafting tradition as old as 3, 000 years.
The third month of the Chinese lunar calendar is when the Miaos celebrate the Sister's Meal Festival in a year. The festival, dubbed the 'The Orient's Oldest Valentine's Day', is specifically designed to encourage new relationships amongst single youths of the tribes.
The festival lasts 3 days, and a Lusheng dance taken part in by all villagers officially announces its arrival. Lusheng is a traditional Miao wind instrument, and is played much like a Chinese reed pipe.
Girls dance to the rhythm in layers of circles, and at the same time, selects their perspective partners from the Lusheng players. Slowly, she dances to the young man she lays her eyes on, and ties a flower ribbon to his instrument. If he accepts her advance, the young man sing antiphonal love songs with her.
From here the romance between the two starts.
After the dance, he gives the lady a small parcel of multi-colored sticky rice. As a sign of acceptance, she buries a pair of chopsticks inside the rice and give the parcel back. However, if the lady is still hesitating, she returns the package with only one chopstick in the rice.
A bamboo hook in the rice makes a confession that she expects to keep a frequent contact with the recipient. A small cotton ball is a sign that she will think of him every day. A coriander leaf indicates that she is expecting a proposal of marriage.
What every courting Miao male fears the most, however, is receiving a package of chilli, which denotes a change of mind or, to be more direct, refusal.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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