The Gourd Festival, called "Apeng Alonni" in Lahu language, is held on the 15th, 16th and 17th day of the 10th lunar month. Legend has it that the Lahu people came out of gourds, so gourds are the Lahu people's lucky objects and life partners. The Lahu people use gourds to store water, wine, gunpowder, grain seeds, and make reed pipes. Gourds have many advantages. They can cool water, keep wine from changing taste, and are not easily affected by moisture when storing grain seeds and gunpowder. Lahu people always go out without gourds, especially men, who must carry at least three gourds, one for water or wine, one for gunpowder, and one for gourd pipes. During the Gourd Festival, grand material exchange meetings are held in Lancang and other places, gourd cultural festival activities are carried out, and grand mass reed pipe dance competitions are held. The "Apeng Alonni" Gourd Festival was decided at the 17th meeting of the 9th Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Lancang Lahu Autonomous County. Since 1992, three-day celebrations have been held from the 15th to the 17th day of the 10th lunar month every year. The Collection of Lahu Folk Literature includes the folk legend "The Origin of the Lahu Nationality" and the story "The Story of the Gourd", in which the Lahu people came out of a gourd. The "Planting Gourd" in the epic "Mupa Mipa" says that the Lahu ancestors, Zhaluo and Naluo, came out of a gourd due to the pecking of small apples and mice, which shows the close relationship between gourds and the Lahu people.