Miaoyuan village in eastern China held a ritual ceremony on Saturday to celebrate "Lichun," one of China's 24 solar terms to mark the formal start of spring. 

Miaoyuan village holds a ritual ceremony to mark the begining of spring at a local temple in Quzhou city, Zhejiang province, on Feb. 4, 2023. [Photo/China.org.cn]

The ceremony, performed in a time-honored fashion, began at 9 a.m. at a local temple. As part of the rituals, participants presented flower baskets and sacrificial offerings to Goumang, or the God of Spring in ancient China, to wish for a bumper harvest and prosperity in the year. 

A child wearing a traditional shepherd's outfit whips a buffalo in a ritual to mark the beginning of spring in Miaoyuan village, Zhejiang province, on Feb. 4, 2023. [Photo/China.org.cn]

A highlight of the ceremony was the "Whip the Spring Ox," where an elder villager plowed the field with an ox-pulled plow, while a child whipped the ox, singing a folk song. In another ritual called "greet spring," 24 "spring messengers" stood on either side of the temple's doorstep and chanted "spring is coming," holding lanterns in their hands. These rituals symbolically signified the start of the farming season for the year. 

Twenty four boys and girls stand on either side of the temple's doorstep in a ritual to mark the beginning of spring in Miaoyuan village, Zhejiang province, on Feb. 4, 2023. [Photo/China.org.cn]

The ritual ceremony, dated back hundreds of years, has been formally held each year since 2005 in the village at the start of spring.

The 24 solar terms, including Lichun, were added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.

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