On the first day of Wangguo Festival, every family in Jiuhe Village sends one of its younger members to "circle the fields". Dressed in festive attire, he or she joins a colorful procession of other young people carrying scriptures and barley wine, who spend the day parading around all the village's fields. Individual families also hold a ceremony in which they burn mulberry to pray for good fortune and a rich harvest.
In Jiuhe village, Qonggyai County in Xizang, the annual Wangguo Festival is being observed from July 30 to August 3 this year. Held to celebrate a good harvest, Wangguo Festival generally takes place when the grains ripen, and is a grander event than Tibetan New Year in Xizang's agricultural areas. The custom of circling the fields – "wang" refers to crops and "guo" means to circle around – is believed to have originated in the Yarlung Zangbo River valley area as a ritual to pray to the god of the land for a good harvest. Now widely celebrated across rural and forested areas of Xizang, Wangguo Festival has been listed as part of China's national intangible cultural heritage.