Lue Dou (Pinyin: Lüè dòu) is popular throughout the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province. In Miao language, "lue" means wood, and "dou" means drum, which means big wooden drum. Also called bamboo dragon.
The drum frame is made of a whole section of nanmu hollowed out, in the shape of a cylinder, covered with cowhide at both ends, and fastened with bamboo strips around the edges of the drum skin. The size of the drum varies. According to folklore, the standard shape is 6 feet long and 1 foot 2 inches wide, imitating a hero with a height of 6 feet and a body width of 1 foot 2 inches. There are some existing folk buckets, the larger ones are 200 cm to 300 cm long, and the smaller ones are 100 cm long. Commonly, the diameter of the drum surface is 40 cm to 50 cm, and the drum length is 120 cm.
Among the Miao people, it is said that Luedou was made to commemorate a tiger-fighting hero who fought for the people. There is also such a legend in Danzhai County: After the Miao people in Qingjiang Village made a battle, the Miao compatriots from the Eighteen Villages of Jiuwan came to Qingjiang Village to sing and dance. Delaying the work in the fields, and fearing that there would be too many visitors and less food for his family, the wealthy man in Qingjiang Village ordered the people to throw the drums into a remote cave, pressing them under the big stone slabs, and were not allowed to beat the drums and dance. Since then, people have lost joy, seeds have not sprouted, and fruit trees have not blossomed. Later, despite the obstruction of the wealthy, the Miao people pried open the cave, turned over the stone slabs, took out a little bucket from the cave, and sang and danced on the courtyard dam. That year in Miaoling, the weather was good, and the five grains were harvested. Since then, the Miao family has designated the first pig farm day in February of the lunar calendar as the "Drum-Tuning Festival". At that time, people dressed in festive costumes will gather in the Zhaizi Square, with a little fight as the center, drumming and dancing in a circle for three days and three nights. Since then, people called the singing and dancing with drums as the drumming.