*Shuagetang Songfest of Yao Minority

109.*Shuagetang Songfest of Yao Minority

Nominating Unit: City of Qingyuan

Located in the northwestern mountainous part of Guangdong Province Liannan Yao Autonomous County of City of Qingyuan, which is the only habitation of Pai Yao Minority in the country, is the cradle of Shuagetang Songfest. Shuagetang Songfest is a large scale cultural activity of Yao Minority that is popular in six Pai Yao villages of Sanpai (including Nangang), Woshui, Daping, Xiangping (including Panshi), and Sanjiang (including Jinkeng). The specific performing forms include ancestor worship, Chugetang, Guozhou dance, long drum dance, singing and antiphonal singing of Yao songs, Fazhen show, chasing and beating Heimianren (Heimianren: person who blackens his face and represents evil power) etc. According to historical records, it has been more than six hundred years since the complete Shuagetang Songfest appeared during the thriving period of Pai Yao, that is, during the reign of Emperor Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1398).

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Shuagetang Songfest is a folk feast of Liannan Pai Yao that combines worshiping ancestor, retrospection, celebrating harvest, repaying god with thanks to fulfill one’s promise, disseminating knowledge and entertainment. The grand songfest lasts for three days and is held every three or five years, while the small scale songfest lasts only for one day and is held every two or three years in the sixteenth day of the lunar October, the birthday of Panguwangpo (a female god worshiped by Pai Yao). Because Pai Yao does not have its own characters, Shuagetang Songfest has become an important carrier for cultural exchange and historical heritage. The Yao Scriptures recited during the songfest have not only provided strong evidence that can explain Pai Yao’s origin, but also sufficient materials that can prove the birthday of Pai Yao, support the research on its faith and the creating of the Yao scripture. Besides, the Yao Scripture is of high historical research value in ethnology, sociology and folklore studies for reflecting battles in ancient Lingnan. The delicate headwear and the brightly decorated clothes of Yao people, the unique long drum dance, the Shiye dance and the national instruments like cow horn, gong, suona, Mang fl ute, May xiao, and flute in Shuagetang Songfest are of strong nationalized artistic style and high artistic value. During the Cultural Revolution it was forbidden to hold the songfest and not until the end of the 1980s did the folk event resume its place.

Shuagetang Songfest of Yao Minority was enlisted in the fi rst batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.