What is the main activity of the festival? The main customary performance of the knife pole festival.
1. Knife Rod Festival
The Knife Rod Festival is an annual traditional sports festival for the Lisu people in Lunmashan, a border area of ??Yunnan. The time is the eighth day of the second lunar month. The Knife Rod Festival originates from a legend, commemorating Wang Ji, the Minister of War, who observed the suffering of border people during the Ming Dynasty.
2. The origin of the festival
It comes from a legend: During the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court sent Wang Ji, the Minister of War, to the border to set up border security. After Wang Shangshu took office, he understood the sufferings of the border people and actively helped the Lisu people to develop production, making their lives better and better, and they were loved by the Lisu people. Later, Wang Shangshu was falsely accused by a traitor and was transferred back to the court. On the eighth day of the second lunar month at the Cleansing Banquet, Wang Shangshu was killed by a traitor with poisoned wine. When this unfortunate news reached the Lisu village, people were so angry that they were gearing up.
In order to avenge Wang Shangshu, the Lisu people decided to set the eighth day of February, when Wang Shangshu was killed, as a day to practice martial arts. Among the Lisu people, the custom of the Knife Rod Festival has a history of hundreds of years. According to legend, during the Ming Dynasty, foreigners invaded the Yunnan frontier, and the imperial court sent Wang Ji, the Minister of War, to lead troops to defend the enemy. After Wang Ji arrived in northwest Yunnan, he relied on the local Lisu people to unite and fight and quickly drove away the invaders. On the eighth day of February, Wang Ji was ordered to return to Beijing. Unfortunately, he was killed by a traitor on the way.
3. Customs
So it was passed down from generation to generation, forming the knife-bar section. The festival is so big that Lisu people from dozens of miles away, dressed in festive costumes, gather from all directions to the knife pole field by the Yangchang River. As night falls over the land, many fires are lit inside and outside the knife pole yard. Suddenly, the blazing fire from four large fire pits lit in the center of the square soared into the sky, illuminating the crowd. Then the gongs clanged, and people in the knife pole field held each other's hands and danced a brisk three-string dance around the bright fire.
When the four piles of fire were burning until only red coals were left, the host of the event announced the start of "jumping into the sea of ??fire". At this time, five brave men with bare feet immediately broke into the sea of ????fire on the field and kept bouncing in it. Their rapid footsteps caused countless sparks to fly everywhere, like flying meteors.