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It happens every 13 years in Southeast Guizhou, it started on Dec.29 in the year 2007 and lasted until Jan.5 of the year 2008,held in 2 large Miao villages called Gaopai(高排) and You'ai(有挨) separately.The local people killed more than 100 waterbufalos at 1 o'clock in the morning of Jan.3 for this holy festival.I arrived there with my friends on Jan 2,we experienced it and saw they preparing some things for it.Before the local people killed bufalos,the women and girls danced for 5 days.According to the tradition,the headman of their village asks them to wear new dresses and jackets.The headman is always passed from generation to generation.The Miao village You'ai(有挨）has not spent this festival for 60 years,the younger generations nearly forget all the process of Ancestors' Worship,since the old people have passed away.The local people told me,before they hold this festival,they have to look for the headman first,only him who can call the whole villagers,and be trusted by their ancestors' spirits.The headmen of Miao villages we often meet are old,but the one we saw in You'ai village is very young.
In this remote region,people always get married when they are too young, the married age of 15 for girls and 18 for boys.
This phenomenon is very common,therefore many people become grandparents when they are just around 34 years old.We visited a Miao family,the host and his wife are grandparents already.The hostess is just 33 years old!The family is poor,very poor,but the people are friendly and very kind,they tried to give us their homemade rice wine to drink and sing songs to us.At night they only sleep on the rice straw with a poor bed sheet covered it.
When this festival was over,the hosts gave their friends and relatives some bufalo's steaks as gifts, while the drunk friends carried them back homes.
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