Festival for wiping the face dark

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The festival for wiping the face dark is a traditional festival in Xibe and Daur with a long history, and it is held on lunar January 16 every year. This festival consistently has the significance to look forward to lucky It is said that n ancient time, the wheat and rice growing in Xibe usually became blackwheat because of the cold weather and freezing.

The undeveloped science couldn’t help people to find out the reason, so the people believed that the god was punishing them. In order to send off this “plague”, people come up with an idea that wiping face with black ash and saying sorry to the god to eliminate these disasters.

Xibe people thought that the god would patrol the man’s world on lunar January 16, so they wiped face with black ash to sar sorry to the god on this day. On the morning of this day, the rushed young get up early and stick the ash in the bottom of the pot to the onion or mat. They scramble to wipe faces with the black ash mutually. However, they point a black spot on eldership’s faces symbolically, kowtowing and saluting to the eldership. the festival for wiping the face dark on lunar January 16 has been a recreational activity for the juniors.