Festivals
VisitingHulunbuirduringthe local festivals givesa uniqueopportunity for travelersto look into the culture and mind-set of the minoritypeoples. A timewhenyouwillexperiencetheir genuine joy and celebration.
Mongols
Naadam Festival is a major holiday for the Mongols and a wonderfultimetoexperience theculture and people. The festival has itsroots in the nomad weddingassemblies and it later served as a waytotrain the Mongol soldiers for battle. The threemainsporting passions of the Mongols areperformed: horse racing, wrestling and archeryalongwithothercompetitions, passionatedance, music and famous the Mongolian ”throathsinging”.
Everyyeartherewill be 2 Nadaam festival, one in summer and one in winter.
Daur
”A NieJie” is the biggesttraditional festival ofDaur. During the festival, they set off firecrackers and eatdumplings on the lunar New Year’s Day, (just like the Han Chinese do) whichsymbolizesbiddingfarewellto the past and welcomes the coming year. A special tradition is to set fireofcow and horse dung in front of the gateoftheir houses. The flamingfireshrouds the wholevillage in the smoke. Peoplealsothrowcookedmeat, dumplings and cakesintothe firetopraythat the family, the livestock and harvests will be wellin the coming year.“A Nie” Festival” lasts till the 16thdayof the firstmonthof the new lunar year. The 16thday is called “the dayof black ash”.When the morningcomes, the elderwill plaster some black ashes on the foreheadsoftheir sons and daughterstokeepaway the devil, avoiddiseases and praythateverythingwill go well.
Oroqen
Theannual Bonfire festival is a traditional festival of the Orogen. It is held on June 18. On thisday the Oroqenweartheir best dressesgatheringto the bonfire Square. The celebrationsaredividedinto 3 parts: OpeningCeremony, traditional sports competitions and entertainmentbonfire. The sports contestsincludeshorse racing, shooting, archery, wrestling the traditional ”necktug-of-war” an muchmore.
Evenks
FestivalsofEvenksincludeAobaoand the Mikuole Festival. Aobao is a Mongolianwordmeaning "a pile." It consistsof a pile ofstones andbricks, surrounded by a particularnumberofpoles from whichmulticoloredsilk streamers arehung. Streamers arecoveredwithsacred Buddhist inscriptions. AccordingtoEwenkishamanicbeliefs, the Aobao is regarded as the dwellingof God. The Aobao is oneof the mostimportant festivals of the Ewenks. It is heldaround June or July on the lunar calendar (between June 22 and August 21 on the Western calendar). Sheep and ox areslaughtered as sacrificialofferings. The festival includespopularsporting events such as horse racing and wrestling.
