Ancient dog festival celebrates legend of heaven-sent canine in China
Members of the Miao people celebrate tradition that their ancestors were saved from death by a heaven-sent animal
Dog festivals in China often involve eating the meat of the animals, but on Saturday villagers in the country’s southwest took part in a very different tradition when they strapped a dog onto a sedan chair and shouldered it over rice paddies as a god.
Villagers from the ethnic Miao people in Jianhe county, Guizhou, have worshipped dogs for centuries, according to a report by Qq.com.
According to a legend passed down from its first settlers, a dog led them to a sacred water source and saved them from dying of thirst.
Water shortages are common in some areas of Guizhou due to the region’s karst landscape, characterised by soluble rocks that mean little water remains on the surface.
