Ritual songs are sung on the occasions of folk rituals such as "wedding tune" in weddings, "funeral tune" in funerals, "sacrificial tune" in sacrifices, "dragon boat tune" in dragon boat race, "wine tune" in drinking, "congratulation tune" in meeting and seeing off friends and relatives, most of which have fixed repertoires and singing procedures.
There are rich varieties of ritual songs of minorities in China, and they have many fixed song rituals such as song-competition, antiphonal singing, of which the famous ones are "ge'wei" (a song gathering) on the third day of the third lunar month of Zhuang ethnic group in Guangxi Province, "Torchlight Festival" on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month in the border of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, each of which are full of excited people and songs. In addition, there are ritual songs for other occasions such weddings, birthdays, grown-up ceremonies, funerals, dragon boat races, for example, "wedding song" and "birthday song" of Kazak ethnic group, and "grown-up ceremony song" of Gaoshan ethnic group.
(ChinaCulture.org August 2, 2005)
