San Yue San

[liuzhou]

Thursday here* will be the third day of the third month by China’s lunisolar calendar. In Chinese, this is known as 三月三 (sān yuè sān, literally ‘third month, third (day)). For the ethnic minority people around here, the Zhuang, the Dong, the Miao, the Yao and more, this is the major festival of the year. Guangxi province is the only one in China which marks this an official public holiday, such is its importance as an event. Guangxi has the highest number of ethnic minorities in China – twelve, many of whom hold this festival.

 

I should note that these ethnicities are not limited to Guangxi or indeed China. The Hmong people are a sub-group of the Miao and are found world-wide. Other groups have large presences in SE Asia and elsewhere. I have Tujia friends in the USA and Canada and Zhuang in the UK. They will be celebrating, too.

 

One local school celebrated this today by holding a mini food festival. The kids learned how to make the ethnic minority’s special dishes such as five-colour rice and others. They wore their traditional ethnic costumes identifying their ethnicities and, by the look of it, had fun while learning about their culture.

 

While I wasn’t there, a close friend was there as her daughter is a pupil in the school. She has sent me these images with permission to share.

 

*China operates one time zone; the USA is between 12 and 15 hours behind so it may be on Wednesday for some of you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BeeZee]

Thanks for sharing...(uh oh, saw some of the dreaded c*rn!). What a fun way for kids to learn about traditions, food displays and the ethnic costumes are very impressive!

[KennethT]

Are those fish edible?  They kinda look like plastic but maybe it's some kind of sculpted dough?

[liuzhou]

Yes. The fish are edible. I've eaten them. They are very traditional and represent longevity. 

 

They are dough as you say.