Every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, villagers organize a team to dance a straw dragon. Villagers carry ripe rice, straw boats, ducklings, and sacrificial offerings and walk towards each household. Every time they arrive at a household, they send a package of ripe rice, symbolizing that the household will be well-fed and well-clothed this year. After the homeowner picks it up in a bowl and puts it in place, the prepared insect king will be placed in the straw boat, which means the straw boat will take away all the pests.

 

 

After the rice straw dragon leaves a house, the family will immediately kill a duck on the ridge of a field and spray the blood on a piece of rough straw paper, make a small flag to be placed in the corner of the field. They prepare offerings such as wine, candles, and incense to pray for a bumper grain harvest, commonly known as the “Sacrifice to the Field God”. 

 

After visiting every household, the team gather in the Huilongxian to burn incense and candles and offer sacrifices. Afterwards, they gather the pests in the boat and burn them on a flat ground, so that the young crops can grow strong and have a good harvest. 

 

In 2012, Hemiao Festival was included in the third batch of representative items of municipal intangible cultural heritage. In 2016, it was included on the fourth representative list of provincial intangible cultural heritage items.