Hua er Festival (Flower Festival)
Hua er Festival has been celebrated for generations among minorities of Tus, Huis, Salars, Bonans and Dongxiang in Qnghal, Gansu and Ningxia of northenl China, The celebration is mostly held in spring and summer and lasts for three to six days thought it varies from place to place. The festival joins the local temple fair and pilgrimage, thus thousands of people come to the fair from all directions to sing their will.
There are kinds of versions about the origin of the festival. The famous Mount Lotus Hua'er Festival of Gansu has a story. When the celestial Guang Chengzi took the fairy Lotus passing by Kangle County, the fairy Lotus fell in love with a local young man. The angry Guang Chengzi turned the fairy Lotus into a mountain. Deeply moved by their love, people built a temple in memory of her infatuation. On the day of the completlon of the temple, people saw a young couple rising from the mountain. The couple were singing the Hua'er with lotus n the woman's hand and a colored fan in the man's. A gust of breeze blew down the lotus leaf, the couple therefore ended their Hua'er with "Oh f/ower, the lotus leaf". La er on people of Lotus Mountain area also sing as the couple did to end the song and they took with lotus tlower and colored fan in hand while singing. On the way to Mount Lotus, a rope is set across to invite a passer-by to answer the Hua'er. He is not permitted to continue his walking unless he sings in reply. The competition of singing Hua'er in a dialogue style is the highlight of the festival. When the contest is carried out between groups, the groups echo each o her raising and answering questions by singing. A conductor is designated to be in charge of raising and answering questions in each group. He must strictly relate the answering Hua er to thesubject matter, or the group of five to eight people by him will be sneered at. Winners at the festival are entitled master Hua er singers.
"Hua er" (flower) is a typical folk tune expressing the emotions of young people. The folk rune has the name of "Hua er" and "Shaonian" (youth), for girls and boys are addressed as "klua er" and " Shaonian'. The Hua'er is made up of rhymed lines, tune and tone. It usually consists of three to six lines as a metaphor and the rest revealing the subject matter. There are 200 or so tune names existing today. Some tulle names are named n accordance with subject matters, some after nationalities. Tone means the melodious no a on of the Hua'er. It falls on the second and the forth scale among the five scales of ancient Chinese music. The performance style and form are various in different nationalities and regions. For instance, the Tu people sing Hua'er with their accented rhythms and peculiar melodies, while file Salar Hua'er is presented with a sweet trill tone influenced by Tibetan folk songs.
The Hua er promotes competition because it is in most cases sung impromptu. When top candldates stand out after some time of singing inside the groups, the singing contest is carried out among these outstanding singers. The final winner will be entitled the "Anshou". It is a taboo for the young singers and their elders to sing in the same group while forming a singing group.