The "Knife Pole Festival" is the grandest and holiest national traditional festival of Lisu compatriots. This festival originated from a sad legend. A long time ago, Han and Lisu ancestors are half-brothers. Then "the brothers grew up and had to be separated." Han's brother and Bebe, a Lisu, had fenced off a piece of land with a pile of rocks and grass ropes. But suddenly there was a wildfire. The stone pile that the brother was hit landed firmly on the ground, but the grass rope made by the brother turned into ashes: it belonged to the end of the day, I came to the primitive forest of the Gaoligong Mountains to hunt for a living and have children.
Under the fire
But some bad people abroad did not allow them to live in peace, and often sent soldiers to their fortress to burn and loot. When the descendants of the Han brothers learned of this, they sent Wang Jie, the Minister of Military Affairs, to lead a large army to help them defeat the bad guys. Wang Jie set up barricades in the border area, taught the young and strong Lisu people to practice martial arts and gave them rice, rice and money. Unexpectedly, the bad officials of the court framed Shangshu Wang and urged the emperor to dismiss him. Then, he poisoned people at the party. The Lisu people were saddened by the bad news. They angrily lit a bonfire and set up a "mountain of knives" with tall poles and sharp knives, vowing to turn their grief into strength, "climb the mountain of knives and descend into the sea of fire," and resolutely defending the beautiful home that Wang Shangshu had helped them build.
On the mountain of knives
Every year on the seventh day of February, the night falls, a pile of bonfires on the mountain will be in the hut of the fixed resort lit. Men, women and children sing and dance around the fire, known as "playing songs". When the bonfire burns into a pile of red coals, there are brave Lisu men wearing red towels, red clothes, waving red flags, facing the red flames, barefoot into the red coals, hands and feet dancing. In the "sea of fire", they sometimes jumped, like steel flowers kicking the coals; sometimes rabbits will be in the fire up and down, tossing and turning; sometimes, I will take large and small pieces of coal in the face. The flames were blazing and the sparks were jumping all over the place. Now and then people would be surprised and say, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The center of the venue, colorful, towering "knife mountain" magnet connected to two giant trees and 72, 36 steel knife, attracted thousands of pairs of eyes. This knife is a real knife, blade up, flashing blue. Tried it once and it shattered when it touched the cotton; Barefoot and Barefoot are flesh and bone. For fear of injury, please sprinkle the village elders with "blessing water". Then drink, a big bowl of spirits; then the first to say triumphantly, "To the mountain of swords!" Then, sword in hand, he steps onto the green front, step by step, step by step. At this time the clouds were so thick that the birds forgot to fly.
Until the first warrior's heroic appearance in the blue sky and white clouds above the top of the "drop mountain", people with their hands to do a thrilling Ling inverted, and then symbolize the victory of the auspicious five-color flag in the "drop mountain" from east to west, from north to south in order to flutter on the ground. on the ground. The sound of cheering stirs up emotions, exploding like spring thunder and surging like a forest.
The Knife and Stick Festival is an annual traditional festival of the Yi ethnic group in the Malun Mountains of Yunnan. Today is the eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar. The origin of the Knife and Stick Festival is a legend: during the Ming Dynasty, Wang Jie, a minister of the Imperial Army, set up a border. After Shangshu took office, he experienced the hardships of the border people, and actively helped the Yi people to develop production, and life became better and better, and was loved by the Yi people. Later, Shangshu Wang was falsely accused by a traitor and was transferred back to the imperial court. On February 8th, Shangshu Wang was poisoned to death by the traitorous minister with poisonous wine. When the bad news reached the mountain village, people were very angry and prepared to take revenge for Shangshu Wang. The Yi people decided to designate February 8th, the day that Shangshu Wu was killed, as a day for practicing martial arts.
The Lively Scene of the Knife Festival
On this day every year, martial artists do their best to practice and teach their profound skills. Thus it has been passed down from generation to generation, resulting in the Knife and Stick Festival. It is a grand festival. The Yi people from ten miles away, dressed in their festive attire, gather from all directions in the Knife Bar compound by the Yangguan River. When night fell on the land, many flames were lit inside and outside the Knife Bar compound. Suddenly, four flames in the center of the square rose to 0, illuminating the spring crowd. Then the cymbals sounded, and the people on the knife bar joined hands and danced a light three-stringed dance around the bright fires. As the four fires on the site were burned to red coals, the event host announced the start of the "Jump into the Fire". At that very moment, the five barefoot warriors immediately set the field on fire, jumping around the field, stepping on countless sparks, walking as fast as a shooting star.
The men performed under fire.
Then, with lightning speed, the fireman scrubs his face and body with red coals, then lets the fireball roll and rub in his hands. Onlookers were sometimes happy, sometimes nervous, sometimes grateful, sometimes surprised . . and erupted in cheers. After an intense performance, the "jump into the fire" ended when the women's coals were crushed to pieces and the flames were dying. The next day, two saffron tree poles over twenty meters high were erected on the knife pole, with thirty-six upwardly facing leaves crossing between them. At noon, the happy crowd once again filled the square. With a command from the host, the gongs and drums were loud and the firecrackers were blazing. Last night, "jumped into the fire" of the five fog head, wearing a blue cap, clad in red robes, bare feet rushed down the tree, each person poured a cup of booze, a drink. Immediately jumped on the flagpole, grabbed the upper blade surface with both hands, stepped barefoot on the sharp blade, usually practiced with qigong to support the soles of the feet, alternating hands and feet, step by step, climbed up. When the soldiers climbed to the top of the flagpole, all the spectators on the field were stunned, bursting into loud cheers.