Eight-century-old meat festival in Jiange County

By Yuan Fang: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, March 1, 2017

Residents nearby and tourists swarmed to Jushanya Village, Jiange County in North Sichuan to attend the eight-century-old Meat Festival on Tuesday, the third day of the second lunar month.

The festival, now a distinctive local folk sacrificial custom, originated in the Tang Dynasty, developed in the Ming Dynasty and flourished in the Qing Dynasty.

Legend has it that back in the Tang Dynasty, Jushanya villagers would offer complete pigs as sacrifice to the gods on the third day of the second lunar month and the first day of the tenth lunar month to pray for good weather for their crops and peace and prosperity for themselves and the country. After the sacrificial ritual, each household would be given a piece of cooked meat weighing one to two kilograms and people would sit on the ground, dividing and eating the meat.

The practice evolved into a routine over time and became a folk custom called the Meat Festival in the Ming Dynasty.

52-year-old Sun Wenshu was born into a family of head chefs for the festival. He started to learn cooking meat when he was still a teenager.

According to Sun, only marbled meat is used for the festival. Braising of the raw meat, weighing two kilograms each piece, on slow fire started one day prior to the festival and lasts eighteen hours. When cooked, the meat is so tender that it just melts in the mouth. Each piece is divided into eight portions for eight people.

In addition, people stage sacrificial and drama performance to celebrate the festival.

Though serving as a way for flaunting wealth in the past, the festival has now become a famous and influential folk cultural and tourism event, and a trade fair for farm products.

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