Blending ethnography with cinematic storytelling, “The Hundred Pot Feast” offers an intimate look into the titular vibrant Hakka spring farming ritual that has endured for centuries in western Fujian. According to oral history, during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the local people began worshipping the Three Hakka Patron Saints (Dingguang, Fuhu, and Wengong) and the Five Grains Immortal (Shennong), conducting the Baomiao Jiao on the second day of the second lunar month every year to pray for a bountiful harvest. The Hakka villages surrounding Shengping Village are divided into four regions (locally called “Xiang”) based on village and surname. Each Xiang is further divided into “Peng”, which are community-based groups that go beyond family lineage. These groups take turns organizing the event through a rotating system.
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On the second day of the second lunar month, the Three Hakka Patron Saints are carried to an open area designated by the Xiang on duty, where they receive collective offerings from villagers. Dozens of long tables are lined up, each labeled with the names of the participating villages. Every household places glutinous rice wine in tin pots, decorated with rapeseed flowers, camellias, peach blossoms, and plum blossoms. Since the pronunciation of “tin pot” (Xihu) sounds like “cherishing blessings” (Xifu) in Chinese, the festival has been officially renamed the “Hundred Blessings Feast.”
After the sacrificial offering, everyone is free to take a tin pot and enjoy the wine, exchanging well-wishes for spring with family, friends, and even strangers. Before the Three Hakka Patron Saints reach the collective offering site, young men carrying the 200-pound palanquin perform a “Palanquin Battle”—a ritual where two men engage in a physical contest, rocking the palanquin back and forth to delight both the gods and the people
Guishuzong sheds quite a thorough light on the ritual, presenting it from all angles, by combining a series of interviews with everyone involved, and footage from the actual ceremonies. The approach here is deeply ethnographical, with the analysis having an academic structure, which is, however, frequently broken by the playfulness of the people talking. Particularly the comments on how the Three Patron Saints are treated as gods emerges as hilarious on occasion, in one of the best traits of the movie.
Another highlight is the cinematography by Gui Shuzhong, Chen Ruhui, Zhang Fengying, and Wang Mengyang. The dominant red and yellow hues, whether in costumes or various apparitions, are particularly striking throughout the film. At the same time, the aforementioned battle with the palanquin is also a standout in the documentary, actually inducing the movie with a shocking factor that works nicely for the narrative.
On the other hand, an appreciation for the continuous sound of Chinese opera percussion is necessary, as it occasionally feels overly repetitive, in a film that does emerge as too topical on occasion.
This, however, is a just a minor issue for a documentary with intense anthropological and ethnographic value, which is, additionally, quite pleasant to the eye
