The Jing ethnic group mainly lives on the three small islands of Wanwei, Wutou and Shanxin in Dongxing City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is located in the southwestern part of the coastline of mainland my country and faces Vietnam across the sea. The Ha Festival is the most solemn festival of the Jing ethnic group, also known as the "Singing Ha Festival". "Ha" is the transliteration of the Jing language, which means "song". The date of the Jing ethnic group's Ha Festival varies from place to place, either on the tenth day of the sixth lunar month, the tenth day of the eighth lunar month, or the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. There are Ha Pavilions in various places that are specially used for Ha Festival activities. The Jing ethnic group's Ha Festival activities consist of ancestor worship, rural drinking, socializing, and entertainment. There are many folk legends about the Ha Festival. Among them, the more representative legend says: In ancient times, a singing fairy came to the three islands of the Jing ethnic group and mobilized the masses to resist feudal oppression in the name of spreading songs. Her singing moved many people. In order to commemorate her, later generations established the "Ha Pavilion" and regularly sang and spread songs in the Ha Pavilion, which gradually became a festival custom. The Ha Pavilions in each village are the center of the festival activities. The festival activities last for 3 days, all night long, with endless singing and dancing. People of all ethnic groups around also come to celebrate together. There are three main actors in singing Ha, one male singer, called "Ha brother", who is responsible for playing the piano accompaniment, and two female singers, called "Ha sisters", one holding two bamboo boards and the other holding a bamboo clapper, accompaniment by beating the rhythm and singing in turns. The content of the song includes folk legends, philosophical stories, love stories, etc. Young girls often come on stage to perform dances amid the sound of gongs and drums. The most distinctive of them is the "Head Lantern Dance". The dancers hold porcelain bowls on their heads, with plates stacked on top of the bowls, and candles lit in the plates. At the same time, they hold wine glasses in both hands, each with a candle in the glass. During the singing and dancing, three candles flicker and never go out. If there are many people dancing together, the eyes are full of flickering candlelight, which is beautiful and moving. After nearly 500 years of development and evolution, the Jing ethnic group's Ha Festival is a concentrated embodiment of the Jing ethnic group's traditional culture. The Ha Festival is one of the most grand and lively traditional festivals of the Jing people in a year. "Ha" or "singing Ha" means singing in Jing language, and the Ha Festival is a song festival. The specific date of the Ha Festival varies from place to place. The festival is held on the tenth day of the sixth lunar month in the Weiwei and Wutou areas of Fangcheng County, on the tenth day of the eighth lunar month in the Shanxin area, and on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the Hongkan area. The festival is generally held for three days, all night long, to entertain the gods and people. The Ha Festival is held in the Ha Pavilion. The Ha Pavilion is located at the edge of the village and is built with high-quality wood, which is sturdy and beautiful. There is a shrine in the main hall of the Ha Pavilion, on which are offered the tablets of the gods (such as "King Zhenhai" and "General Chen Dynasty") and ancestors worshipped by the whole village. The Ha Festival activities can be divided into four procedures: first, welcoming the gods, then offering sacrifices to the gods, and then sitting down and singing Ha. "Singing Ha" is the 0 of the Ha Festival and takes the longest time. There are "Ha brothers" and "Ha sisters" tuning the piano and beating the bangs to sing, with more than 30 kinds of tunes; they sing narrative songs, labor songs, folk songs, songs praising the gods, bitter songs, love songs, etc. Those who "listen to Ha" sit at a table of 8 people, and "listen to Ha" while drinking and feasting, and they are very happy. The last procedure is to send off the gods. After sending off the gods, the Ha Festival, which lasts for several days, is considered to be over. Historical Origin The Ha Festival is to commemorate the birth of the Sea God. The Jing people mainly engage in marine fishery production and believe in the Sea God. Every year, they go to the seaside to welcome the Sea God back to the Ha Pavilion to worship and pray for the prosperity of people and livestock and a good harvest. "Ha" is the transliteration of the Jing language, which means "song" and "inviting the gods to listen to songs." There are many folk legends about the Ha Festival. The legend that is currently widely circulated in the three islands of the Jing people in Guangxi is: It is said that four or five hundred years ago, there was a huge centipede monster under the Bailong Ridge on the coast of the Beibu Gulf, which ate people and capsized boats and caused storms. One day, a deity turned into a beggar and took a boat across the sea. When the boat arrived at the entrance of the centipede monster's cave, when the boat owner wanted to push the beggar into the sea, the deity stuffed a large pumpkin that had been simmered in advance into the centipede monster's mouth. The centipede monster swallowed the large pumpkin and rolled over due to the heat. Its body was cut into three pieces and drifted with the current to become the "Three Islands of the Kinh Tribe" of Wanwei, Wutou and Shanxin. Its head drifted to Vietnam and became Wanzhu Island. Only then were the nearby residents able to live and work in peace and contentment. So the Kinh people revered the deity as the "King of the Sea", built a temple to worship him, and went to the seaside every year to welcome the "King of the Sea" to enjoy the sacrifice, which became the annual Ha Festival. Main Activities Before the Ha Festival, every household of the Kinh Tribe cleaned the gate pavilion and decorated it inside and outside. On the day of the Ha Festival, all the men, women, and children in the village dressed in festive costumes and gathered inside and outside the Ha Pavilion to hold activities such as welcoming gods, worshipping ancestors, and "singing Ha", which was very lively. The Ha Pavilion in each village is the center of the festival activities. The Ha Pavilion is made of top-quality wood and has a unique ethnic style. Its architectural style is simple, beautiful, and varied in complexity. The roof ridge is decorated with a lucky image of two dragons playing with a pearl. The Ha Pavilion is divided into left and right side halls and the main hall. The main hall has the thrones of the gods believed in by the Jing people, and the pillars in the hall are carved with couplets or poems with ethnic customs. In the larger Ha Pavilion, there are stepped guest seats on both sides of the sacrificial site. This is specially set up for the highest-ranking people in the village who donated money and materials to build this Ha Pavilion and organize the Ha Festival. The order of seats is also determined from high to low according to the size of their contributions. The Jing Ha Festival activities consist of ancestor worship, village drinking, socializing, and entertainment. The festival lasts for three to five days, all night long, with endless singing and dancing. People of all ethnic groups around also come to celebrate together. The whole festival process can be roughly divided into the following four parts: Welcoming the God On the day before "Singing Ha", the team will hold up flags and umbrellas and carry the throne to the seaside to welcome the God from afar and bring the God into the Ha Pavilion. Drive the "elephant" (actually a pig) to the Ha Pavilion and circle it three times. Then it will be killed at midnight. The headman who presides over the "Ha Festival" will organize the "Ha Festival" village drinking. The people who listen to the "Ha Festival" (that is, the people who are eligible to attend the banquet are registered in order in a book. Every year, it is the turn of a certain number of people at the front to prepare sacrifices for the "Ha Head") to raise a big pig. When raising the pig, the pig must be washed clean and must not be dirty or cursed. This is called "raising an elephant". When the festival comes, the one who raises the largest pig will be chosen. After the pig is used to sacrifice to the God, only eight pounds of pork will be distributed to everyone, and the rest will be at the disposal of the "elephant" household. The specific time for offering sacrifices to the God is around 0 o'clock in the afternoon of the festival. After the sacrificial ceremony begins, the main priest leads people to welcome the gods and ancestors from the sea and heaven to enter the shrine, read the sacrificial text, and then toast and offer gifts to the gods. In the process of entertaining the gods after the sacrifice, the performance content not only intersperses the singing of ancient poems and historical stories that people like to hear and see and reflect the interest of life, but also sings "incense songs", dances "incense dances", "incense dances", "sky lantern dances", etc. 1. "Incense Dance" In the "Incense Dance" to comfort the gods, the dancers repeatedly move back and forth in front of the altar with triangular steps with trembling knees. At the same time, they perform the "wheel finger hand flower" in front of their chests, which starts from the little finger and drives the wrist to rotate, and the "turning hand flower" with the hands entwined and the fingers rotated and pulled apart, etc., to express the love and respect of the Jing girls for the gods. 2. "Picking Tea and Touching Snail Dance" "Picking Tea and Touching Snail Dance" evolved from the love song "Dancing Tea Picking". In the song and dance, the "peach girls" (female dancers) danced with the singing, simulating the movements of picking tea and catching snails, bringing people's thoughts to the lush green tea forest and the seashore, sharing the joy of the girls catching snails and shrimps. The whole performance is like a lyric poem full of strong local flavor, which makes people intoxicated. In addition, according to the ancient customs of the Jing people: if the size, style and pattern of the clogs made by unmarried young men and women are the same, then the young man and woman are considered to be a couple matched by heaven. For this reason, the Jing people have evolved the dance of "matching clogs" which tells that in order to obtain the title of "matching by heaven", lovers privately "colluded" the size, style and pattern of the clogs to make "coincidence" a reality. These dances full of life interest not only achieve the purpose of "entertaining the gods", but more importantly, make people truly gain physical and mental pleasure and spiritual enjoyment. 3. Lantern Dance In the Lantern Dance, the dancers hold porcelain bowls on their heads, plates are stacked on the bowls, candles are lit in the plates, and wine glasses are held in both hands, each with a candle in it. When singing and dancing, three candles flicker. If it is a group dance, the candlelight flickers, which is very beautiful. The end of the Lantern Dance opens the floodgates of people and the choir singing inside and outside the pavilion. The tide of singing rises and falls, and gradually joins the voices and laughter from near and far, forming a piece of peaceful sound of the world floating into the vast night sky. After the sacrifice to the gods, the feast and listening to the feast are called "Zuo Meng" (also known as "Ha Feast"), with six to eight people at each table. Except for a few provided by the "Ha Head", most of the wine and food are prepared by each family. The guests take turns to serve the dishes at each meal, and listen to the "Ha Girl" singing while eating. Women only bring the dishes to the table and cannot sit at the table. Women and children listen to the songs outside the "Ha Pavilion". "Changing Ha" is the main activity of the "Ha Festival". There are three main roles in "Changing Ha", namely a man called "Ha Ge", also known as "Qin Gong", and two women called "Ha Mei", also known as "Tao Gu". The main singer "Ha Mei" stands in the middle of the hall of the "Ha Pavilion", holding two small bamboo pieces in her hands, singing and swinging while knocking, and the accompanying "Ha Mei" sits on the ground next to her, knocking on the bamboo clapper with both hands to accompany her. After "Ha Mei" finishes singing a sentence, "Ha Ge" plays a section of the three-stringed harp according to the tune. In this way, one sings and one accompaniment, until the main singer "Ha Mei" gets sleepy, and then another "Ha Mei" comes out to sing the main song. "Changing Ha" will continue for three consecutive days. The content of the song includes folk legends, philosophical stories, love stories, etc. After the "Changing Ha" is finished, the gods are sent away. When sending off the gods, the "Sending God Tune" must be recited, and the "Flower Stick Dance" must be performed. After sending off the gods, the entire "Ha Festival" ceremony is over. During the Ha Festival, people also carry out other activities. Men who are not good at singing are unwilling to let the girls take over. Therefore, bullfighting, martial arts competitions, wrestling competitions, etc. are also carried out, becoming important and distinctive programs of the Ha Festival.