How the Yi people celebrate the Torch Festival, say less

The date of the Torch Festival is unified as the 24th day of June in the lunar calendar. The content and form of the torch festival of various ethnic groups are also different, even the various branches of the Yi nationality are also different. The people of the Yi nationality in Lunan, Guishan and other places in Yunnan Province put on new clothes, played the Yueqin, the big three strings, and danced joyfully with the reed sheng, and also held wrestling and bullfighting.

The Yi people in Wuding, Luquan and other places also carry out activities such as archery, horse racing, and swinging. The Susu people have the custom of hunting during the torch festival. Sichuan's Yi program is even more colorful, with beauty pageants in addition to horse racing, bullfighting, and wrestling.

1. Prepare for the fire and burn the knuckle.

Do not wander around the fields as this will cause insect infestation.

2. Don't step on the pot stone with your feet, and don't step directly over the fire pit.

3. When participating in the Torch Festival, you should be civilized and polite, do not quarrel with others, do not scribble and scribble in scenic spots, and do not litter.

4. Don't light torches and walk around during the day, and don't come out of the house with two torches.

The Yi Torch Festival is a traditional festival in the Yi region, which is held on June 24 of the lunar calendar every year and is popular in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other Yi areas.

The Bai, Naxi, Kino, Lahu and other ethnic groups also celebrate this festival. The Torch Festival is mostly held on the 24th or 25th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, and the festival lasts for three days. On the 24th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the Big Dipper Star pointed upward, and the ethnic groups of the Yi language branch had to celebrate the Torch Festival.

Origin of the festival

Although there are many theories about the origin of the Torch Festival, its origin is most directly related to the nature worship of fire, and its purpose is to use fire to repel insects and protect the growth of crops.

The torch festival is called Duze in the Liangshan Yi language, that is, the meaning of sacrificing fire, and in the ritual song "Sacrifice to the God of Fire" and "Sacrifice to the Pot Zhuang Stone", there are descriptions of the gods of the fire god Ayi Diegu. The original form of the Torch Festival, in short, is the ancient fire worship. Fire is a symbol of the Yi people's pursuit of light.

The Torch Festival is an ancient and important traditional festival of the Yi, Bai, Naxi, Kino, Lahu and other torch festival ethnic groups, with profound folk cultural connotations, well-known at home and abroad, known as the "Oriental Carnival". Different ethnic groups hold torch festivals at different times, mostly on the 24th day of June in the lunar calendar, and the main activities include bullfighting, sheep fighting, cockfighting, horse racing, wrestling, singing and dancing performances, and beauty pageants.

Wait. The holding time of ethnic minorities is held on the 24th day of June in the lunar calendar, the 25th day of June for the Bai people, and the 20th day for the Lahu people, and the festival lasts for two or three days. The Yi people believe that the torch festival is to grow ears of grain as thick as torches.

Later generations used this fire to drive away the ghosts and evil spirits in the fields at home to ensure the safety of people and animals. Nowadays, people also use gatherings as an opportunity to socialize or meet lovers, and to conduct business activities on festivals. "Torch Festival" is also a grand festival of the Bai nationality, every year on the 25th day of June in the summer calendar, the people of the Bai nationality will hold activities to wish a bumper harvest of grains and the prosperity of people and animals.

On the day of the winter solstice every year, the local sturdy men will hold a large handful of torches made of rice stalks, pour oil in front of the house and behind the house, and circle around the fields a few times, in order to beg for the wind and rain in the coming year, and the five grains will be abundant.

When the Yi torch festival is held, every household will prepare food, during the period, each village is erected in the village with a large torch made of dry pine wood and pine seeds, a small torch is erected in front of each house, lit at night, the village is bright, and at the same time, people hold small torches in groups to march in groups at the edge of the village, between the ridges and ridges, and insert the torches and pine seeds in the corner of the field.

Finally, the young men and women gathered in the square and built many torches into a fire tower, and the flames were blazing, and the people gathered in a circle, singing and dancing, and the joy continued throughout the night. The main event of the Torch Festival is at night, when people either light torches to pray for the New Year, remove filth and seek good fortune, or light bonfires to hold grand singing and dancing entertainment. During the festival, there are also horse racing, bullfighting, archery, wrestling, tug-of-war, swings and other entertainment activities, and open a ** bazaar.

The Liangshan Yi Torch Festival is the second Xinghui Festival of the Yi solar calendar, which is celebrated at the hottest time in the sixth month of the lunar calendar. The Ming Dynasty poet Yang Shen once wrote a poem about the Xinghui Festival in June every year. According to historical documents, the torch festival has the meaning of occupying agriculture with fire, holding fire to illuminate the field to pray for the New Year, carrying the field, and the cloud can avoid insects.

The Torch Festival is the grand festival with the largest scale, the richest content, the most spectacular scene, the largest number of participants and the strongest national characteristics among the many traditional festivals of the Yi nationality.