Double Third Singing Carnival

    Name: Double Third Singing Carnival for the Zhuang people

    Date: the dlird day of the third lunar month

    Zhuang is China's largest minority group with a population of about 16.2 million according to the

    Singing Carnival at the Third of the Third Lunar Month is the traditional festival for the Zhuang nationality as the ethnic groups is particularly good at singing. The area where they live is known as the "Seas of Songs" or the "soil floored with piano keys." The Zhuangs, women and men alike, all begin to learn singing at the age of four or five. They sing of love, of play, of work, of sadness, of happiness, of celebration and of mourning. They sing to urge guests to drink at parties and to urge the gods to send rain for the crops. The Zhuangs even challenge each other's wit with antiphonal songs. The best known singers like Liu Sanjie, and Huang Sandi in the Zhuang's history are crowned the "Queen of Singers" and the "King of Singers."

    Once in a while, the Zhuang people would gather together to sing songs at the Singing Carnival, usually at the third of the third lunar month. Research shows that there are 640 meeting sites for the Zhuangs in Guangxi. The Zhuangs would also meet at Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn or one month after the birth of a child. Even temporary singing meet will be staged when they are on the way to the trading market.

    There are songs sung at different occasions. During the "singing meet in the day," young people will gather outdoors in the vast fields singing in a move to seek for the other half. During the "night singing meet," the songs are usually about work, life or history knowledge. The songs sung at different occasions can never be confused, especially at the time of marriage ceremony, worship, and funeral.

    At the third of the third lunar month, the Zhuangs from around the area stretching up to hundreds of li (two li amount to one kilometer) would all dress up to meet to sing. Usually, lads and lasses will stand opposite and lasses will probe lads' character and talent through singing. Men would bring gifts to the women they desire, and women would throw embroidered

    balls tied with gifts back to the man with who they fall in love. At some singing meets, people will bring colored eggs. With an egg in hand, young man will try to touch the egg grabbed in the hand of the woman he has a crush on. The woman, if like the man, will agree for the man to knock on her egg. If not, she would just grab the egg tight, which means: man, no chance for you.

    Sometimes, singing competition will be held between villages. For instance, Village A will send a silk ball to Village B and challenge it in a folk song competition. According to rules, Village B can only return the ball when it wins the game. If Village B loses in the competition, the embroidered silk ball will just stay. There will competitions in the following years until Village B Wins.