Changxin Festival of Pumi Ethnic Minority

Chinese Name:普米族尝新节
English Name: Changxin Festival of Pumi Ethnic Minority

每到收获的时节，人民要举行，家家户户新开一坛酷，用新米饭（或做荞粑粑）以及新熟的果品等祭供””神及祖，然后开始宰猪杀羊、宴请亲友，共食新粮，庆祝丰收。普米族在尝新节时、过年时一样要给狗喂饭团。

　　普米族尝新节没有固定的日期，各地以当地农作物收获情况而定，大多以村为主，各村的日子不一样，但最多相差5一10天左右。尝新节一般过两次，也有过一次的，在小春入库以后和大春收割以后的几天内进行。节日期间，人们走亲戚，举行文体娱乐活动，说唱本民族的历史、传统习俗，祈求五谷丰收。

　　普米族的尝新节一般相距不会超过四五天，都是在农历七月中选一个吉祥的日子举行。在尝新节到来之前，家家都要用新打来的粮食先酿制一坛白酒和一坛，到了节日这天，先在村中的””祭坛上烧三住香，由韩规或一长者主祭。韩规念完祈祷词后，各家各户一一将新酿的米酒和新煮的米饭（或把耙）献祭给””。祭毕，新煮的第一碗米饭要给狗吃，新酿的第一碗米酒要给老人们喝。然后全家人围坐在一起，饮新酿的米酒，吃新煮的米饭，以示庆祝丰收。

During the harvest season,the Pumi Ethnic Minority(普米族) will hold the Changxin Festival(尝新节), and every family will open a new jar of wine with the new rice(or make the buckwheat baba) and fresh fruits to sacrifice to“zongbala”(宗巴拉) god and ancestors.They began to slaughter pigs and sheep,invite friends and relatives to share new grain and celebrate the harvest with them. The Pumi Ethnic Minority also feed rice balls to the dogs on the day of Changxin Festival same as the Spring Festival.There is no fixed date for the Changxin Festival of Pumi Ethnic Minority,it depends on the local harvest of crops,Most villages are different from each other,but the difference is about 5-10days at most.The Changxin Festival is generally held twice or once,in the days after the harvest. During the festival,people used to visit some of their relatives,and held recreational activities,telling and singing the history,traditional custom of their nation,and pray for the good harvest in the coming year.

The Changxin Festival of Pumi Ethnic Minority is usually no more than four or five days apart,and it always celebrated on an auspicious day in the July 15th of the lunar calendar.Before the festival,every family would brew a jar of white wine and a Sulima wine(苏里玛酒), brewed form the fresh grain .When it come to the festival, they would burn three sticks of incense on the altar of “mani heap”(嘛尼堆) in the village.In the words of the chief mourner of Hanggui or an elder.After the prayers,families offered “Zangbala”(藏巴拉) freshly brewed rice wine and freshly cooked rice or stuffed bun one by one.After completed the sacrifice,the first bowl of fresh rice was for the dogs,and the first bowl of freshly brewed rice wine was for the elderly.Then, the whole family gathered together to drink the young wine and eat the new rice to celebrate the harvest.

Translated by Fan Xin/范欣