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Residing in southwest China, the Miao minority group are well known for their beautiful silver rings. During the Moon Dance Festival, Miao women will wear silver rings and other silver jewels to proudly display their beauty and elegance. For young people, the Moon Dance Festival is also a good time to look for their life partners. Men play their unique Lusheng musical instrument, with women singing and dancing around. The festival is held three times a year. The story below tells the origin of this festival.

A long, long time ago, there were two brothers who resided on the mountain. To make a living, the elder brother went to chop wood everyday, and the younger brother went fishing. Then they sold their products in the market. Their life was simple but joyful.

The elder brother enjoyed music. Every time he went to hew wood, he would always look for some reed and bamboo, then make them into a pipe and play it. It sounded very beautiful. So gradually he collected many pipes. One day, he sat on a stone, and blew the pipes one by one. Each pipe made sound with various pitches. He said to himself, “If I play all these pipes together, then what music it would make?”

One day when the elder brother chopped a kiri, he found the inside of kiri was hollow. He bored some holes in one side of this kiri wood, and put the pipes into the holes. Then he blew into the kiri. Instantaneously the kiri made several different sounds at the same time. After studying this for a few days, he at last created a musical instrument which could make pleasant melodies with different tones. This instrument was later called Lusheng. The sweet music of Lusheng attracted many people. Even the birds and animals in the mountain liked this fabulous music.

In a cave nearby, there was a female tiger who was intoxicated by the music too. But the tiger dreamed to have the elder brother only play music for herself. So one day, the tiger became a lady with several big silver rings around her fingers. She came stealthily to the brothers’ home, and ate some food in the kitchen.

When the two brothers came home and saw the tiger, they were very angry, ” Why are you here and eat our fish?” The tiger replied, ” Your fish was really delicious! And now I want you to go with me!” The tiger held the elder brother, and escaped. The younger brother tried to get his brother back, but failed. The elder brother was taken away. When they left, the younger brother saw a tail under the lady’s skirt. So he realized the lady was actually a tiger.

The younger brother ran to call in the villagers. They took bows and arrows to seek for the elder brother everywhere in the mountains. However a few weeks passed, and they still couldn’t find the brother. Until one day, they climbed to the top of the mountain, and heard a bird twittering, ” They are here, they are here!” They followed the sound, and came to a cave where the elder brother was captured. The younger brother and villagers killed the tiger, and saved the elder brother.

The elder brother played the Lusheng music to express his excited feelings, with the villagers sang and danced around him.

Since then, Lusheng musical instrument started to be popular in the Miao area. In lunar January, June, and August, people get together with men playing Lusheng music, and women dancing around with elaborate silver rings on their fingers. The activity is often held in the evening when there is a bright moon in the sky. So the festival is called ” the Moon Dance Festival”. It also has a nickname ” Looking For Brother Festival”. The women’s silver rings shine especially beautifully in the moonlight.

Writer Clare L. loves writing about the world’s silver jewelry, especially silver rings. The Miao silver rings she specializes in are popular almost everywhere. Get in touch with the writer, go look at some silver rings here. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.