The Miao ethnic group continues its tradition of revering trees as symbols of human life, birth, and death during their annual festivals.

China’s Miao ethnic group reveres trees, believing that they symbolise the life of humans; they also worship vegetation at important stages of life. The Miao people, whose population numbers over 10 million, inhabit central and southern China’s Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi provinces, and have a traditional Flower-Jump Festival every year. At this time, people gather around a 10-metre-tall flower tree made by the revered elderly in the village with evergreen tree branches, and dance around it on...