The third day of March of the Buyi people, also known as the "sacrifice of silkworms" or "silkworm meeting", is a traditional festival full of mysteries. There is a legend about its origin:
According to legend, in the area of Xinbao Township, Wudang District, Guiyang City, there was a farmer in ancient times, who found that after spring sowing every year, there were always a large number of silkworms to bite the seedlings to death. After repeated observations, he believed that it was the "heavenly horses" (earth silkworms) that the gods had put on the earth. In order to protect the crops, he tried various methods of sacrifice, but none of them worked.
Later, this farmer fried baoguhua to feed the silkworms during spring sowing, and miraculously saved the seedlings. This method soon spread to every household of the Buyi ethnic group. In order to pray for a good harvest and avoid insect infestations, the Buyi people will fry the baogu flowers as offerings on the third day of the third lunar month every year, and go to the nearby hillside in groups to worship the gods and silkworms.
After the festival, people walk along the ridge of the field and sing mountain songs, and scatter the baogu flowers into the field. They believed that offering sacrifices to silkworms could confuse them and seal their mouths, thus protecting the seedlings in the field from pests. Later, March 3 was designated as the "Song Festival" of the Buyi people.
In the Buyi area, the passage of March 3 varies from region to region. In the Guiyang area, young men and women would go to the mountains to sing duets. It is rumored that the singers in the sky will give a golden voice to whoever hears the beautiful singing. For this reason, the locals also call the third day of March the "Festival of Gosen".