The Lusheng Musical Festival held in Chinese Miao areas is quite exciting. People dress them up with their colorful ethnic costumes and beautiful silver jewels, singing and dancing to express their feelings of happiness. About the origin of this exciting festival, there is an interesting story.

A handsome hunter was famous for his braveness and wisdom. He tramped the mountains and killed numerous wild beasts. One day, the hunter came to a small village where he saw lots of cattle, sheep, pigs, but no chicken or ducks. The villagers told him all chicken and ducks had been eaten by two huge hawks. So the hunter decided to eliminate these two evil hawks. He came to a cliff where the hawks’ nest were built. Watching the hawks flying out of their nest, the hunter immediately shot them. The two hawks were removed. The whole village held a big banquet to feast the hunter and express their appreciation to him.

At the banquet, a girl saw the handsome hunter and fell in love with him at the first sight. But she had no chance to tell him about her feelings, as the hunter left immediately after the banquet.

A few years later, the girl grew up to be a beautiful woman. Many young men in the villages tried to court her, and all were turned down. In her heart, she was still in love with the hunter and hoped to see him someday.

The girl was so beautiful, even an animal ” a white pheasant ” fell in love with her. Knowing that a human lady wouldn’t want to marry a bird, the pheasant thought of an evil idea. One day when the girl was doing embroidery, a storm came and during the storm the pheasant took her away to a remote forest.

The pheasant put the girl into a cave, and tried hard to convince her to marry him. But he only got rejected. Worrying that the girl might run, the pheasant made her into a coma. Every day before daybreak, the girl woke up and began to cry. Once the girl cried, the pheasant would utter a terrible sound to make her sleeping again. Hearing these terrible sounds and the cry, the residents nearby were scared and ready to move to another place.

One day the handsome hunter came to this forest. People told him every night there was strange sound and cry in the forest, and nobody knew what’s going on. So in a night, the hunter carried his gun and followed the sound to a big tree where the white pheasant stood, shouting. The hunter took out his gun and shot the pheasant which then fell over to the valley. The next morning, the hunter went to the valley, and picked up a piece of feather from the body of the pheasant as a souvenir. Wearing this feather on the hair, the hunter looked more handsome. He then said bye to the local people, and left.

After the pheasant died, the girl woke up and escaped from the cave. He met the people in the forest and told them her experience. The people said it’s the hunter who saved her life. But the hunter left. The only sign he had was the white feather adorned on his hair.

With the help of the village people, she went back home. At home, she told her parents that the hunter was the only person she wanted to marry. But where do we find the hunter? they asked.

Finally the girl’s father got an idea, We hold a big party, singing and dancing, and invite people from other villages to join us. Maybe at that time, the hunter will appear.

Using bamboo, the father made a special musical instrument called Lusheng. He also taught the other villagers to make this instruments. During the Miao new year, they held a big festival to sing and dance, with the beautiful Lusheng music as the background. The exciting festival attracted lots of people from near and far to join in.

On the ninth day of the festival, the hunter finally appeared, with a white feather in his hair. In the girls home, the father explained everything to him and told him about his daughters love. So they got married.

Every year since then, Miao people held a Lusheng Musical Festival to dance and sing. While dancing, they liked to wear a white pheasant feather in their hair, believing that it could drive away evil spirits and help them find a perfect partner. If they couldnt find a white pheasant feather, they would use a piece of silver jewel in the shape of a feather.