Chinese villagers of the Hakka people carrying a golden statue of ancient Chinese general Guan Gong dash through waterlogged fields during a mud-spatt
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Contributor:
Imaginechina Limited / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
W6K1NFFile size:
25.6 MB (1.1 MB Compressed download)Releases:
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3618 x 2475 px | 30.6 x 21 cm | 12.1 x 8.3 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
27 February 2018Photographer:
ImaginechinaMore information:
Chinese villagers of the Hakka people carrying a golden statue of ancient Chinese general Guan Gong dash through waterlogged fields during a mud-spattered celebration to "awaken" the farmland for the coming spring in Juhe village, Tongfang town, Changting county, southeast China's Fujian province, 27 February 2018. Carrying the golden statue of a revered ancient general, villagers in southeastern China dash wildly through waterlogged fields in a mud-spattered celebration of a local rebel adored for stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Spurred on by the roar of firecrackers and cheers of families crowded on muddy banks, teams of men splash through the quagmire, in a centuries-old ceremony that is part of the lead up to China's Lantern Festival on 3 March. It is a time for colourful ceremonies in the coastal province of Fujian, where the Hakka people have held on particularly strongly to their folk traditions. At the centre of the celebrations is the solemn-faced gilded effigy of Guan Gong, a Chinese general who lived nearly 2, 000 years ago during the Eastern Han dynasty and has been granted god-like status. Local families pray to the statue, light incense and sacrifice chickens, before carrying it down to the field. Villagers ran through the flooded fields to the point of collapse and then splashed water on the statue and each other in the winter morning chill. Stomping about in the mud is also a way to "awaken" the farmland for the coming spring and express hopes for a good harvest year.