Flying Birds Festival of Maonan Ethnic Group

General Introduction to the Flying Birds Custom

Among abundant folk conventions of the Maonan nationality（毛南族）, Flying Birds（放鸟飞） ranks as the most distinctive and lively festival custom. It is celebrated annually on the 15th day of the first lunar month, namely the Lantern Festival. Unique to Maonan settlements in Huanjiang, Guangxi, the custom integrates folk legends, handmade craftsmanship, food rituals and totem worship, and has been listed as local intangible cultural heritage.

Origin Folk Legend of Flying Birds

Plot Background of the Legend

A widely circulated local legend accounts for the custom’s origin. An elderly spiritual master lived in the Maonan mountainous area, with only one daughter. The girl was intelligent, dexterous and gorgeous, and mastered the exquisite skill of weaving vivid bird ornaments with thin bamboo strips and calamus leaves. Villagers affectionately called her the Little Bird Girl（小鸟姑娘）. She fell in love with a local young man, and the two planned to hold their wedding on Lunar New Year’s Day.

The Test of the Spiritual Master

To examine the young man’s wisdom and capability, the spiritual master set a tough task on New Year’s Eve: he required the young man to scatter grain seeds across all mountain farmlands before sunset. Overwhelmed by nervousness, the young man mistakenly scattered glutinous rice seeds instead of common grain seeds. Glutinous rice would overgrow and ruin mountain crops, so the spiritual master ordered him to retrieve every seed, an impossible task for one person alone.

Birth of the Flying Birds Ritual

Seeing her fiancé trapped in despair, the Little Bird Girl offered a solution. She told him to fetch one hundred handmade woven birds they had crafted previously. The girl breathed gently on the woven birds and whispered ancient blessing incantations. Once the young man carried the bird basket to the mountains, the woven birds magically flew out and gathered all scattered glutinous rice seeds in a short time. The young man resowed standard grain seeds before dusk.
Pleased by the miracle, the spiritual master postponed the wedding to the 15th day of the first lunar month. Since then, local Maonan people have observed the Flying Birds custom every year to commemorate the story.

Pre-Festival Handicraft and Food Preparation

Raw Material Collection and Bird Weaving

Households start preparation in advance before Spring Festival. Villagers pick fresh, tough calamus leaves in mountain wetlands, which are the core weaving material. Senior female family members take charge of weaving, passing down the technique across generations. Weavers make more than ten types of simulated birds, including partridges, pheasants, swallows, cormorants and babblers, all with lifelike body proportions.

Stuffed Glutinous Rice Bird Production

On New Year’s Eve, families fill the hollow belly of each calamus bird with seasoned fillings: fragrant glutinous rice, red beans, black beans and sesame. The finished bird snacks are steamed or boiled thoroughly. After cooling, people tie all calamus birds with straw ropes onto a whole sugarcane stalk. Sugarcane symbolizes steady progress and sweet life in Maonan folk culture.

Ritual Procedures on New Year’s Eve

Ancestor and God Worship

The sugarcane strung with calamus birds is hung on the incense altar in the central main room, facing ancestral memorial tablets. Extra sacrificial offerings are arranged alongside, including five-color red glutinous rice, wild fruits and homemade rice wine. The core prayer is to plead with mountain bird spirits not to forage on farm crops, and to bless bumper harvests and disaster-free farming in the new year.

Intra-family Distribution Rituals

Every child in the family is given one calamus bird snack for good fortune. For married women who have given birth and reside in their husbands’ homes, they must return to their natal families to receive calamus birds. This ritual carries the blessing for robust, lively and healthy children.

Core Ritual on the 15th Day of the First Lunar Month

On Lantern Festival, families take down all calamus birds from the incense altar and share them as festive meals, which officially completes the whole ritual named Flying Birds. During the meal, elders retell the Little Bird Girl legend to youngsters to inherit ethnic memories. Unlike literal bird release, the custom refers to "letting bird-shaped blessings leave the incense altar and enter people’s daily life".

Cultural Origin and In-depth Connotation

Primitive Bird Totem Worship

According to ethnic folklore research, Flying Birds originates from the Maonan ancestors’ primitive bird totem worship. Ancient Maonan people relied on mountain hunting and rain-fed farming. They regarded birds as divine messengers that could predict weather and prevent pest infestations, hence forming reverence for bird spirits.

Practical and Social Implications

Besides harvest blessings, the custom strengthens kinship bonds: returning married daughters reconnect with natal families. It also inherits traditional calamus weaving craftsmanship, a minor folk handicraft unique to the Maonan nationality. In modern times, the ritual has evolved into a cultural tourism activity, retaining ancient spiritual meanings while adapting to contemporary ethnic cultural inheritance.