Wooden drum dance

Ethnic Miao's sacrificial dance, which is accompanied by wooden drums, and often by Lusheng, a spring wind instrument, is mainly popular in Gaopo, Huaxi District and Shilong Village, Baiyun District, both of which are located in Guiyang. The Wooden Drum Dance in Shilong Village is also called Robbing Drum Sticks. The main purpose of the dance is to pray for good weather, prosperity for the country and peaceful living; and secondly, it's said, for having babies. The dance was performed by the village elderly with drum sticks hitting the drum(s), while the youth with Lusheng dance around the wooden drum(s). At first, the dance was mainly performed by married young people who still do not have children. In the dance, a dancer tries to snatch away the drum sticks when the drummers are not fully vigilant; if successful he will turn himself into a drummer, which implies that he will have a baby in the following year.