The Yi Torch Festival usually lasts for three days and three nights, and is divided into three stages: welcoming fire, playing with fire and sending fire.
Yi Torch Festival is the grandest traditional festival of the Yi people. Every year, from the 24th to the 27th day of the 6th lunar month, all villages of the Yi people hold grand rituals to sacrifice to the sky and the earth, to fire, to ancestors, to drive away the evils, and to pray for the prosperity of the six animals and the abundance of the five grains, which embodies the good wishes of the Yi people for respecting the laws of nature and pursuing the happiness of life.
The first day of the Torch Festival: Fire Sacrifice. On this day, villages and hamlets will slaughter cows and kill sheep, share them collectively, and prepare wine and meat to offer to their ancestors. The altar is chosen, the fire is taken in the traditional way, and the fire is recited to the ancestors.
The second day of the Torch Festival: passing the fire. On this day, families gather under the sacred fire of the altar for a variety of traditional festival activities. The boys are expected to emulate the legendary Ati Raba, horse racing, wrestling, singing, bullfighting, goatfighting and cockfighting. The girls follow the example of the legendary ugly woman, dressed in beautiful clothes, put up butter umbrellas, dancing "DuoLuoHuo", Da body dance.
The third day of the Torch Festival: sending fire. This is the climax of the entire Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival. When night falls on this day, everyone will hold a torch and race around. At last, people will gather the torches together to form a pile of huge bonfires, and the happy people will gather around the bonfires to sing and dance to their heart's content.
The Torch Festival is a large-scale festival in Yunnan Nationalities Village in addition to the Water Splashing Festival. Every year during the Torch Festival, the scenic area will launch some unique festival activities. In retaining the "fire, parade, bullfighting, torch playing jumping and passionate torch carnival" and other original activities on the basis of this year's Torch Festival also specially invited the Yi mute performance team, the white suona band, fighting goat team, etc., to further enrich and create a "wonderful Torch Festival, the classic Torch Festival, joy Torch Festival "The festival will be held at the same time.
At the same time, it also introduced new programs such as "Torch Festival Beauty Pageant, Naxi Dongba Fire Sacrifice, and Torch Jumping Race". In addition to a strong lineup of ethnic minorities to stop the door to toast to welcome guests and Yi flower waist song and dance, three red, big three strings and other musical instruments accompaniment, there are exciting and good-looking cattle king scramble, sheep fighting competition, passionate and lively Yi fire ceremony, the taste of folklore completely restore, so that tourists can feel the passion of a number of ethnic minorities to experience a unique carnival event.
Extended Information:
The Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Yi people is a major part of the country's cultural heritage. p>The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage, May 20, 2006, the Yi torch festival approved by the State Council has been included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative list.
On August 4, 2010, thousands of people in Xichang City, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, dressed in festive costumes, danced and sang with unique ethnic characteristics, kicking off the sixth China - Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival. Liangshan Yi torch festival is one of the first batch of China's intangible cultural heritage list, is one of China's top ten folk festivals and Sichuan's top ten festivals, has been included in the "2010 World Intangible Cultural Heritage Approval Project" by UNESCO.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Torch Festival