Guzang Festival

　　The Guzang Festival is the most grand, ancient, and unique traditional festival of the Miao people in China, created by them in their long-term social life. It is also known as the Drum Storage Festival, Guzang Festival, or Drum Worship Festival.

　　The Guzang Festival, also called the Drum Storage Festival or Drum Worship Festival, is a grand ceremony for the Miao people of a single drum (i.e., a branch) to worship the gods of their ancestors. It is commonly known as "eating drum storage". The years when each branch holds ancestor worship are different, and the days for killing animals to worship ancestors also vary from place to place. The Drum Storage Festival is held once every 12 years and used to last for 4 years, but now it has been changed to 3 years. The Miao people live in clans, and the Miao people in Leishan maintain their survival and development with the regional organization "drum society" formed by blood clans. The "drum" is a symbol of the ancestral gods, so all the ritual activities of the Drum Storage Festival are centered around the "drum".

　　The Origin of the Guzang Festival

　　According to the "Ancient Miao Songs", human ancestor Jiang Yang celebrated the Drum Storage Festival to worship the butterfly mother who created the world. Legend has it that the butterfly mother was born from a maple tree, so the Miao people worship maple trees. Since the ancestors' hometown is in the heart of the maple tree, the wooden drum made of maple has become the resting place of the ancestors, and ancestor worship has thus become drum worship. The highest gods of the Miao people are their ancestors, the maple tree (the ancestor of life) and the butterfly mother. The Drum Storage Festival is to worship the sacred maple tree and the butterfly mother.

　　The Legend of the Guzang Festival

　　In addition to the legend of the butterfly mother in the "Ancient Miao Songs" mentioned above, there is another legend about two Miao sisters. It is said that in ancient times, there were two Miao sisters who were beautiful, kind, hardworking, and intelligent. The elder sister was called 'Ben' (Miao language: flower), and the younger sister was called 'Geng' (Miao language: insect). One day, the two sisters went up the mountain to cut firewood and were targeted by two tigers. The tigers then transformed into two young men and tricked the sisters into the mountains to eat them.

　　The whole village was overwhelmed with grief. Their father and brother devised a plan to catch and kill the tigers. At the same time, they closed the village gate, killed a small drum cow to pay tribute to the two deceased sisters, and then invited people to eat beef, warning everyone not to be deceived again. This is the legend of the Drum Storage Festival.

　　The Activity Process of the Guzang Festival

　　The ceremony of the Guzang Festival is organized by the "drum head", the leader of the drum society, who is elected by the masses. The series of procedures from killing pigs or cattle for ancestor worship to festival activities are arranged by the "drum head", and people must obey. The activities of the Drum Storage Festival mainly consist of dancing the Lusheng dance, usually lasting 5 to 9 days, which must be an odd number.

　　In the first year of the Drum Storage Festival, the "dragon summoning" ceremony is held on the Shen day of the second lunar month. All men, women, the elderly, and children of the whole drum society gather at the foot of the sacred maple tree in the dragon welcoming field, and the "drum head" presides over the "dragon summoning" ceremony under the colorful royal carriage. The "drum awakening" ceremony is held on the Yin day of the seventh lunar month in the first year. The "drum welcoming" ceremony is held on the Mao day of the tenth lunar month in the second year. On an auspicious day in the fourth lunar month of the third year, the "cattle trial" ceremony is held. On the Chou day of the tenth lunar month in the fourth year, the ceremony of killing pigs to worship the drum is held, which is called the "White Drum Festival" and is the closing ceremony of the "Drum Storage Festival".

　　In the words of the Miao people, the Guzang Festival is a day to accompany the ancestors to drink to their heart's content, to be full of meat and drunk with wine, and it is a day to show filial piety to the ancestors.