Fire Festivals Of East Asia

From daily rituals through religious festivals to cultural celebrations, East Asia is blessed with numerous rich traditions full of colour, drama and exuberance. No more is this true than with the region’s spectacular fire festivals, destined to ignite that spark on your next travel adventure.

- Shreya Acharya and Andrew Mariott

NUANQUAN, CHINA

Da Shuhua

Celebrated in January/February

Da Shuhua is a Chinese Festival of Lights tradition in Nuanquan Town with a history of more than 500 years. Dubbed the “poor man’s fireworks” – in reference to the blacksmiths who first indulged in this procession – it is celebrated by throwing molten iron against cold bricks to create showers of sparks. Da Shuhua literally means “beating tree flowers”, a name born from the agricultural practice of hitting fruit trees to stimulate growth. The blacksmiths in Nuanquan named the art form as such because the outcome of it has a shape of a leafy tree canopy. Da Shuhua has been classified as one of China’s significant examples of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. It marks the start of the Dragon Boat Festival and is also used to celebrate the Lunar New Year in China.

If you drive east from Beijing, you can reach the town of Nuanquan in just under three-and-a-half hours. Located in Yu County, in the northwestern Hebei province of China, Nuanquan has a population of less than 20,000 – a stark contrast to Beijing’s 21.7 million residents.

“The rich play with fire crackers and the poor perform Da Shuhua.” But when the sun sets on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year celebrations, hundreds brave the freezing February temperatures to see the town’s unusual pyrotechnic display, part of the annual Yu County Lantern Festival.