The Flower Face Festival is a traditional festival of our Yi people, and I heard the old man say that there is a beautiful legend about the origin of this program. According to legend, a long, long time ago, the ancestors of the Yi people migrated to Qubei from far away, and in this beautiful land, there are vast forests and beautiful mountains, which is really a heaven on earth. People live a quiet life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. Qubei Yi is a nation of fire, they worship nature, that nature is spiritual, all natural things are dominated by the gods, and the mountains are the residence of the gods, is the path to the gods and the pillars that hold up the sky. The "Flower Face Festival" is the story of the Yi people's ancestor's worship of the mountain gods and the love of young men and women for a better life.
This year, there was a pair of young men and women in the village called Anai Ahei (Yi language: meaning little girl, young man) to get married, and the whole village was organizing the wedding for them. The girl called Anai looked like a fairy in the sky, beautiful, a good girl that everyone loved. The news of Anai's marriage spread all over the Yi village. I do not know who missed the news, this matter spread to the white dragon prince there, the white dragon prince is Qubei Yi people hate the demon, you want the wind, it does not give the wind, to rain it does not give the rain, it initiated the anger, it will rain for three days and three nights, torrential rains, flash floods, washed away the villages and fields, it coughed coughs, it will be electric lightning and thunder, the white dragon prince, the road, the crop is not harvested. In order to find out the truth, the white dragon prince disguised as a handsome and sagacious Yi young man, mixed into the crowd, when saw Anai, the white dragon prince was Anai's beauty stunned, the white dragon prince swore to marry Anai as his wife, if Anai does not agree, it will come to snatch the marriage, and set a date. The good folks hated and feared, the date is approaching day by day, all at their wits' end. Anai A black is not thinking, Anai is reluctant to leave the beautiful hometown and relatives, more reluctant to leave the beloved A black brother. At this time, there is a smart young man called A Zhi came up with a way to wait until the white dragon prince to snatch the marriage, the village men and women will use pots of soot to smear each other's black face, so that the white dragon prince died of this heart. White Dragon Prince think they are, the date arrived, the White Dragon Prince wearing gorgeous clothes, riding a high horse, leading a large number of demons and monsters, swaggering into the village to snatch the bride came. Just when the white dragon prince gang ready to start, see the village side of the big tree under a pile of burning fire, the whole village of the girls were pot soot blackened face, the former beautiful A Nai they all turned into a black, ugly monster. They surrounded the White Dragon Prince and danced a happy Yi dance. The white dragon prince looked at the eyes, how can not find the beautiful Anai, anxious howling, the white dragon prince how can not figure out, just a few days, so beautiful Anai, become a more than one ugly, the white dragon prince suspected that the fire will be Anai smoked ugly, no beauty also grab what the pro, the white dragon prince rushed to wipe the oil and slipped away. In order to prevent the white dragon prince comeback, the townspeople in the village under the tree burning fire, and black and choking flames into the sky, smoked the white dragon prince can not open his eyes, tears, can not see the earth in the activities, had to give up, to return to the right path. Since then, the White Dragon Prince is not doing bad things, when it rains, it will send timely rain, when it is windy, it will send the spring breeze. The Yi people lived a good life with good weather and good harvests.
The kind-hearted Yi people firmly believe that only with the wisdom and strength of the Yi people, together with the secret protection of the mountain gods, can they overcome evil. In order to celebrate this victory, the Yi people of Qubei will be the first lunar month every year, the first snake day or pig day as the "flower face festival" starting day. Every year than the Spring Festival will be held more lively festivities, first by the Bimo (Yi priests) led by the village masses held sacrifices to the God of the mountains activities, and then, families kill chickens and slaughter sheep, feasts, welcome guests from afar. Young men and women in the village head of the river, wipe each other's face, organized wrestling, fighting kickstand, singing songs, jumping string dance and other recreational activities. During the festival, the blacker the face is smeared by others, the more good luck and happiness will come to him, the better his family's crops will grow, and what he does will come true. Festivals are also a good time for young men and women to choose their favorites, and the darker the face is smeared, the deeper the love. If you don't like each other, you will do everything possible to escape, not let the oil and black things fall on their faces, in order to express the rejection of each other's courtship. Qubei Yi "flower face festival" has continued to this day.