Young Monks Performing the Ritual Dance at Dongba Festival at Jade Water Village (Lijiang, China)
“It’s raining,”I sighed. Disappointed that my pictures will turn out dull.
“Don’t worry, it’ll stop soon,” someone replied.
I turned around and saw a guy in a cowboy hat. He introduced himself as Potter, short for Harry Potter. Potter is a documentarian in the Yunnan Region.
He continued, “Every year, it rains when they are chanting the prayers and it stops just before their ritual dance.”
“Every year?”
“Without fail,” he said confidently.
We were at the annual Dongba Festival in Lijiang, China. Hardly anyone could give us any details about this annual festival (not even the tourist information centre) but we came anyway.
The festival started without fanfare. The devout were here to honor their gods and ancestors, not to put on a show for tourists. There was the blowing of conches, the throwing of rice followed by the sacrifice of the rooster. We stared at the priests’ pictograph prayer book as they chanted in unison. We’d seen pictograph souvenirs in the Old Town but it was amazing to see it being used in everyday life!
After the prayer ceremony, it was time to move outdoor for the ritual dance. Sure enough, it’d stopped raining!
It was a rare opportunity to witness a local festival without having to joust for space with curious tourists. The serendipitous friendship proved to be a bonus find too. Potter also went on to recommend other interesting places to visit in Lijiang that we would not have known otherwise.
This post has been entered into the Grantourismo and HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition.
