Follow President Xi to Spring Festival celebrations — Five animal blessing ceremony

<p>In 2014, President Xi Jinping spent his time prior to Chinese New Year with herders in North China&#39;s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.</p><p>At a blessing ceremony, he dipped his right fourth finger into a silver bowl with fresh milk and flicked the milk in three directions, extending his best wishes for the residents.</p><p>It’s part of a Mongolian New Year ritual to pray for fair weather, prosperous livestock and a happy, healthy people.</p><p>At the ceremony, a venerable senior dabs butter on the forehead of the five livestock species important to Mongolians: cow, horse, camel, sheep and goat.</p><p>Mongolians are one of 55 ethnic minority groups in China. About 4.6 million of them live in Inner Mongolia.</p><p>Thanks to technological advances and government support, many herdsmen have given up their nomadic lifestyle to settle down, and made substantial progress in their living standards.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(127, 127, 127);">(Produced by Zhao Dantong, Huang Jingjing and Han Xiaomeng)</span></p>