The Zhuang people celebrate the Double Third Singing Carnival on the third day of the third lunar month. This ethnic group is well known for being good at singing and the area they live in (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regions and Yunnan province) is known as the ‘Sea of Songs’ or ‘Soil with a Piano-key Floor.’ From the age of around four or five, girls and boys both start learning to sing, with songs of love, play, mourning, sadness, happiness, work and celebration. The singing is meant to urge people to drink at parties and the gods to send rain to keep crops healthy. Sometimes, challenges arise with contestants singing songs antiphonal to one another. The best-known singers are crowned King and Queen of Singers.
Another way to find a lover is through coloured eggs. A man who likes a woman will try to touch the egg she has in her hand; if she likes him, she will allow him to knock on her egg. If she doesn’t, then he has been unlucky.
If a village sends a ball of silk to another village, this is a challenge to a singing contest. The village which received the ball can only give it back when they win the contest. If they lose, the ball will stay where it is over several years until they finally win and can return it.
If a village sends a ball of silk to another village, this is a challenge to a singing contest. The village which received the ball can only give it back when they win the contest. If they lose, the ball will stay where it is over several years until they finally win and can return it.
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