“Egg-Cracking”
Oil
on canvas 31.5" x 25.5"
©1991
Shanye Huang
At the annual Singers Festival on March 3rd (lunar calendar), besides singing their love songs, the young men and young women of the Zhuang people bring along decorated eggs for the Egg-Cracking Ritual. A young man knocks one of his eggs against that of a young woman whom he admires. The cracking of both eggs on impact indicates a promising match and leads to a courtship that often concludes with marriage. The Yin and Yang symbol in the middle, the green and the red, the flower and the bird, and the dragon and the phoenix are all signs that glorify the Zhuang people's deep love and respect for the natural and supernatural world.
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