Kuzha Festival of Lahu Ethnic Minority in Lancnag County, Puer
Overview of the Festival
- Chinese Name: 澜沧县拉祜族苦扎节
- English Name: Kuzha Festival of Lahu Ethnic Minority in Lancnag County, Puer
- Location: Lancang
Lahu’s Kuzha Festival (the Spring Festival)
Dates: from the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month to the fourth day of the first lunar month (New Year holidays); and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (Lantern Festival).
Lahu people have the above two holidays during the Spring Festival. The New Year day is on the first day of the first lunar month, and the Lantern Festival is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The New Year holidays start from the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month and end at the fourth day of the first lunar month for five days. On the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, i.e. the New Year’s Eve, every family cooks steamed sticky rice and pound Ciba (a local food made from rice), and the sound of continuously pounding forms a vivid and lively scenery in the villages. After the Ciba is made, people will cut some small pieces from it and put them on farm tools like sickle, axe, hoe, plow, etc. to show their appreciation to the tools for helping people in grain harvest by cutting down trees and ploughing farmlands. Residents in the village will go into the woods nearby to worship the mountain god, hoping the mountain god to continue to bless the village in the coming year, pray for a good harvest of grain and a smooth hunting. At the sunset, the whole family members, men and women, old and young will stand on the doorstep, facing the west and welcoming the souls of the ancestors to come back home for the New Year countdown.
