Fall in love with the intangible cultural heritage: Shake your arms and throw your wrists to the sky, and the five-colored hydrangeas fly with the song

Editor's Note

Every year on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, it is a traditional festival of Zhuang, Dong, Miao, Yao and other ethnic minorities. On this special day, the people of ethnic minorities in all parts of Guangxi put on festive costumes and flocked to the song, and the joyful songs lingered in the land of Zhuangxiang, and carried out various special activities such as throwing hydrangea balls, grabbing fireworks, bamboo pole dances, and singing.

In this issue, we will walk into Wuming District of Nanning City and visit an important folk sports activity in March 3: the representative project of the autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage - Wuming Zhuang ethnic group throwing hydrangeas, and experience the Zhuangxiang style displayed in the multicolored hydrangea throwing.

The Wuming Zhuang people throw hydrangea balls

Category: Traditional Sports, Amusement & Acrobatics

Level: Autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage list

Batch: Eighth batch

Region: Wuming District, Nanning

Wuming Zhuang throwing hydrangeas is a traditional activity often carried out by the Zhuang people of Wuming, Guangxi In the "March 3" song or traditional festival, mainly through the rotation, throwing, throwing, receiving and other actions, the hydrangea ball is passed out to play a role in entertaining the body and mind and communicating feelings. Throwing hydrangeas has continued to develop from the original expression of affection between men and women, and now it has become a competitive group entertainment activity, integrating folk sports and entertainment, with a broad mass base, and both national and interesting. In 2021, Wuming Zhuang throwing hydrangeas was selected into the eighth batch of representative projects of intangible cultural heritage at the autonomous region level.

Wuming District of Nanning City is one of the birthplaces of Zhuang culture and is known as "China's Zhuang Township". The "March 3rd" Song wei is an important part of the Wuming Zhuang culture, and many folk sports activities in the song wei have also become a major "highlight" of the festival activities. Festivals and sports are deeply loved by the masses because of their unique folklore and fun.

At the "March 3rd" song festival, the strong family girl is throwing a hydrangea ball. Source Nanguo Today

Among them, throwing hydrangeas is a unique cultural landscape in zhuang national culture. A small hydrangea ball has been passed down in the hands of the Zhuang people for more than two thousand years. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people used bronze casting ancient weapons "flying stones" in combat and hunting to throw them, which is the prototype of today's hydrangea throwing. After the Tang Dynasty, with the improvement of living standards and cultural and entertainment awareness, the flying stone has gradually developed into a handmade embroidered cloth bag, which is now a hydrangea ball, and people throw each other after tea and dinner to entertain the body and mind, and gradually develop into a way for Young Men and Women of the Zhuang ethnic group to convey their feelings. The Song Dynasty Zhou Qufei recorded in the "Lingwai Dai Answer": "On the day of the shangwei, men and women gather, each in a row, with a five-color knot as a ball, and the song is thrown away, which is called a flying stone, and the eyes of men and women are formed, then the woman is stoned and the male marriage is determined."

Then, with the development of modern sports, throwing hydrangeas gradually evolved into a formal national sport. In 1986, Guangxi officially established the hydrangea throwing competition; in 1991, at the Fourth National Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Games, Guangxi hydrangea throwing was officially unveiled as a performance project. This activity, which is popular with the Zhuang people, has been given a deeper meaning, from pleasure to competition.

At present, the Wuming Zhuang hydrangea throwing competition is mainly divided into two forms: high pole and back basket.

The high-pole hydrangea throwing competition is divided into two categories: single and team, and the athlete needs to go back and forth in the field many times in 10 minutes, throw the hydrangea ball over the 1 meter diameter color ring on the 9-meter-high pole, and finally calculate the score by the number of throws, so it is particularly important to ensure the speed and hit rate of the hydrangea throwing.

Pan Guimei, the representative inheritor of Wuming Zhuang throwing hydrangeas, introduced the rules of Wuming Zhuang throwing hydrangeas. Photo by Liang Binbin

"In order to make the hydrangea go in fast and many, endurance, speed and skill are three necessary factors." Pan Guimei, the representative inheritor of wuming zhuang throwing hydrangeas, introduced.

Luo Renjin, a physical education teacher of the hydrangea throwing project at Wuming District Nationalities Middle School, demonstrates the action of throwing hydrangeas on a high pole. Photo by Tao Jie

Lifting ropes, outstretching arms, shaking wrists, sending fingers, throwing balls... The whole process is done in one go. Only by obtaining the right speed and angle can the hydrangea ball pass through the color ring smoothly and accurately with the trajectory of the parabola. Hu Zhaoshuang photo

When throwing a hydrangea ball, the participant should pose well, the front and back feet are open, facing the direction of the high pole, taking the right hand pitch as an example, the left palm holds the ball, and the arm is obliquely extended above the right front, and the right hand holds the rope of the hydrangea ball. At the same time as the left wrist pulls the ball backwards, the right hand is sent down, forward, and forward in turn, the body center of gravity moves forward, and at the same time, when the arm reaches the highest point, follow the inertia of the ball, shake the wrist at a reasonable angle to send the finger to throw the ball.

Students practice the high-bar throwing hydrangea project intensively. Photo by Tao Jie

One by one hydrangea balls out of hand, through the hydrangea circle in the center of the field, the participants must immediately run to the opposite side to pick up the ball and throw it, the action is precise and fast, the atmosphere on the field is usually tense and warm, and one by one hydrangeas are crossed in the air, which makes people look at it.

After the hydrangea ball is thrown, it is necessary to immediately run to the opposite side to prepare to pick up the ball and the next throw. Hu Zhaoshuang photo

Since it is necessary to pick up the ball and throw the ball multiple times within the specified time, how to control the appropriate landing point is an important skill in throwing hydrangea balls. Pan Guimei said: "Good athletes will try to control the landing point at a relatively close distance, and immediately run to the opposite side after throwing the ball to wait, saving the time of bending down to pick up the ball, which is an important skill to save time and physical strength in the game." ”

Back basket throw hydrangea project. Hu Zhaoshuang photo

The back basket game is a team form, a team consists of 4 throwers and 1 receiver, the game is based on the number of shots to determine the winner, each team throws the same number of balls, the most shots win, if the number is the same, the short team wins.

Before the game, the players can discuss the team's hydrangea placement strategy to facilitate the relay. Photo by Tao Jie

In the back basket game, the thrower is the same as the high pole throwing action, but the angle of the shot needs to be lowered; the receiver needs to stand in the receiving area with the bamboo basket on his back, and use the back basket to catch the ball, the posture is not limited.

Each of the four throwers throws 6 balls of the same color in order. Photo by Tao Jie

The receiver carries the ball flexibly with an open basket. Photo by Tao Jie

Because it involves the relay of the thrower and the cooperation with the receiver, the basket game is more of a test of the tacit understanding between the teams.

Different competitions will customize different specifications of hydrangea balls. Photo by Tao Jie

Unlike the embroidered hydrangeas used in the traditional Zhuang youth to convey affection, sports hydrangeas omit exquisite patterns and decorations, and are more designed with the feel of throwing the ball. The shape of the sports hydrangea is usually round, knitted with various colors of silk or floral cloth, with a silk ribbon at the lower end and a rope at the upper end of 90 cm. The ball is filled with a mixture of fine sand and wood chips and has a weight standard of 150 grams. In addition, different competitions can also customize the shape of the hydrangea ball according to their needs.

Today, the hydrangea throwing project has become a regular project for students' extracurricular activities on campus. Hu Zhaoshuang photo

According to the actual needs of the inheritance and development of traditional sports of ethnic minorities, hydrangea throwing has now been integrated into the ethnic culture education of many schools in Guangxi. Taking Nanning City as an example, in 2012, "throwing hydrangea balls" became the sports choice project of the Nanning Municipal Secondary School Entrance Examination.

Since 1997, the inheritor Pan Guimei is committed to teaching the sport of throwing hydrangea to more students, and has continuously standardized the teaching of throwing hydrangea in more than 20 years of physical education teaching, and set up embroidery teams for all grades to encourage students to "take one session at a time", and the Zhuang national cultural heritage transmitted by the hydrangea sports is also rooted in the hearts of every student. Today's Wuming District Nationalities Middle School has become the inheritance base of Wuming Zhuang ethnic group throwing hydrangeas.

"We hope to make more people pay attention to and truly participate in the Zhuang hydrangea throwing sports, and strive to make Guangxi hydrangea throwing from a performance project to a formal competition project at the National Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Games." For the development of Wuming Zhuang's hydrangea throwing, Pan Guimei expressed his expectations and goals.

— Ends —

About falling in love with intangible cultural heritage

The "Love intangible cultural heritage" series is an important part of the "Guangxi Non-Genetic Inheritance Plan" launched by Guangxi Daily-Guangxi Yun. We hope to use our own brushstrokes and perspectives to sincerely present those intangible cultural heritages rooted in the magnificent land of Guangxi, and those cultural imprints that are deeply integrated into the blood of the sons and daughters of Zhuangxiang. As a result, a trickle of nurturing national pride and cultural self-confidence is gathered, so that everyone can become a practitioner, inheritor and beneficiary of intangible cultural heritage.

Planning coordinator 丨 Zeng Junfeng Rosa

This issue is written by Tao Jie

This issue is edited by Wang Wenying

Visual design 丨 Feng Shanwei

Video production 丨Hu Zhaoshuang

Chief Duty 丨 Zeng Junfeng Ye Yanyan

Produced by Guangxi Cloud Intangible Cultural Heritage Communication Team