Visiting and Ethnic Village near Anshun...
As a light rain came down, we entered the village, which housed a combination of Miao, Buyi, and Dong peoples. We were welcomed with tea...later in the morning, we tried a cold noodle dish from one of the street vendors. Wonderful! We continue to request the spice of the region... known as "la"... and the vendors are always surprised to see foreigners who will devour the firey pepper sauce.
The Rose of Sharons were in bloom. And I was grateful for the umbrella Annelise gave me for traveling.
All of the homes were composed of stone, and the colors in the village were vibrant. Many women were working on embroidering and sewing together various sizes of shoes -- everything from miniature ornament shoes to full size shoes for the feet of Western visitors.
I was especially delighted with all the artwork in the village, which included numerous sculptures. One of the courtyards featured sculptures of children learning, reading, playing games... all with generations interacting together. The batik artwork depicted various images of women.
We also visited a small temple here, laden with many red "good wishes" ribbons. At an incense altar, we were invited to light candles. The candle sculpture was intricately beautiful in design, with dragon carvings holding candles for the men to light and phoenix carvings for the women to light. We were able to enter the small temple and even take photos with some of the sculptures, which is uncommon. This temple reminded us a bit of the Daoist Temple from our journey to China in 2011.
We noticed several breeds of dogs in the village, some of which we were unfamiliar with. Notice, too, the various kinds of pipes the men are using to enjoy a smoke. It was a gesture of welcome for many of the smoking Chinese men to offer cigarettes to the foreigners, indicating a warm welcome and sharing of a popular custom.
We also saw a performance of Chinese Opera, sort of, by an unidentified ethnic group. The masks were colorful and very expressive. Music for the performance was provided by several old dudes in the village. And after the performance, both Scott and Bill found their "age mates" in the village, enjoying a photo opp together.
No comments:
Post a Comment