Art Openings and Pig Slaughters

All in one day. We were invited to our first art opening (perhaps ever) in a nearby Naxi village. There is a small organization that offers a residence program for international artists who want to use the local environment as their subject. Today a woman named Emily was showing photography of minority culture love rituals and video of love songs that girls and boys sing to each other. This organization has rented a Naxi style courtyard house for the artists to live and work. In honor of her opening the local villagers slaughtered a pig ('tis the season). We listened to traditional music, ate grilled pig hot off the grill, looked at pictures and watched the locals drink Bai Jiu (local moonshine with the aroma of turpentine). After awhile we moved next door to the neighbors house for lunch where as far as we can tell the owners fed the entire village. Our table was covered in dishes using ALL parts of the pig. Li wandered around serving people baby tomatoes and watching the intense games of Mahjongg going on around us. A good time was had by all.