Beijing, August 12 (Youth.cn) - Qixi festival fell on August 10th. In this traditional festival, Xiazhuang village in Anhui Province held a water lamp releasing activity.
Xiazhuang, a natural village surrounded by lakes on all four sides, has many canals and rivers. Its water lamp releasing tradition can be traced back to Ming and Qing Dynasties. The water lamps are made of colorful papers, rosin oil and candles. They look like blooming lotus flowers. Since the water lamps are usually lit up on Qixi Day, the water lamps are also called “Qixi lotus flower lamps”.
Every year, to celebrate the festival, Xiazhuang village is decorated with lanterns and streamers . Local people hold folk activities like lion dance, rowing land boat and singing folk songs. On Qixi Day, when night falls, they row boats around the village and put water lamps on the surface of river. Thousands of water lamps form a river of “stars”, contrast finely with the real stars on the night sky.
These years, oriented by ecological and green development, local authority beautifies the village with the principles of building beautiful rural area. To optimize ecological environment, the village pay efforts to improve road and hydraulic engineering construction. By making fully use of provincial intangible cultural heritage “Xiazhuang Qixi water lamp” and other folk culture, the village develops rural tourism and increases local people’s incomes to promote rural revitalization. Photo/VCG