Bull Hung From A Tree As Part of Chinese ‘Luck’ Festival
A bull has been hung as part of the Chinese “Luck” festival, which has seen an entire village gather to watch the death of the animal as a part of a ritual which is done to bring them luck and a bumper harvest.
This ceremony is conducted by the Dong people of southern China, who have been committing this act for almost 500 years. It also entices hundreds of tourists to the small area every 12 months.
This peculiar tradition occurs in Baojiang village, in the Guangxi Zhuang region of the country, and it occurs so that it can bring good weather and a fruitful harvest, plus prosperity and peace.
At first the bull is paraded around the crowd so that it can pick up the bad luck that people have amassed over the past 12 months. Residents of the area then decide which tree in the village to hang the bull from, before they then use red flowers to decorate it before it’s killed.
The inhabitants of the Baojiang village have had to defend the tradition, after critics called it cruel. They have vowed to keep doing it, and they insist that it will continue as it is now a popular tourist destination.
Lu Hung, who lives in the village, stated, “We also hang cows also to warn those people who don’t behave themselves.[This] used to be the threat of what will happen to them.”
This event has been held for 470 years, and takes place once a year on June 2 of the traditional Chinese calendar. It is does to warn villagers, and to emphasise that they must follow the village’s rules.
Once the bull is decorated and tied up with the rope, the strongest villagers than haul the bull into the air, where it dies in front of those in attendance. Chickens are also offered to the Gods by being attached to “sacred trees” until they die too.
