How Do The Chinese Long Horn Miao Find Their Better Half?
The Long Horn Miao are a tribe of the Miao minority group. Unlike other Miao tribes who wear beautiful silver jewelry from head to toe, the Long Horn Miao are distinguished by a big wooden horn that adorns their hair.
With a population of 5,000, the Long Horn Miao reside in a remote village at 1,800 meters above sea level. Until 1994, when a European anthropologist came here, the village was unknown to the outside world.
Without influences from the modern world, the local people have kept some customs alive for several centuries. Children start dating when they are only 12 or 13 years old. The Flower Dancing Festival held between the 4th and 14th day of the first lunar month is just for single young people to get together and seek their partners.[I:http://www.single-nights.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ClareCliu45.jpg]
A few days before the festival, boys are busy making straw sandals to dance in. They usually also make sandals for the girls they are interested in. If a boy can afford more expensive sandals, he will make the sole out of oxhide and the straps of flax.
During the festival, boys and girls sing and dance in their beautiful ethnic clothes with Lusheng music in the background.
If a boy finds a girl he is interested in, he will follow her to the door of her home. Then they sing together. Usually one brings up a question, and another answers by singing. If the boy loses, he will have to lick a hammer used for pounding capsicum.
Only if he wins is the boy allowed to enter the girl’s home. Then the two cook and eat together. The boy may spend the night there, but he can only sleep on a pile of straw in the living room. [I:http://www.single-nights.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ClareCliu46.jpg]
The next morning after breakfast, they dress up and participate in the festival again. The happy celebration won’t be over until evening.
Lots of interesting things can happen during the festival. Sometimes a few girls go to a market with one boy. The girls will stop to look at shoes for a while, then suddenly pick up a pair of straw shoes and run away. The boy has to pay for all of the shoes the girls take.
If a girl finds a boy she is interested in, she will rush to the boy and hold his arm tightly. Sometimes, the girl will pull the boy out of the crowd and run.
If the boy also shows interest in the girl, they will make an agreement. After sunset, they go out together to have a private talk and sing love songs under the moon.
