Naxi
Lao Apu, the son of the God of Heaven, was jealous of the happy life on earth, and sent an aged general of heaven to earth to burn it into a sea of fire. When he came to the earth, he saw a man carrying an older child on his back and a younger child on his back, he felt strange, and when he asked him, he realized that the child on his back was his nephew, and the child on his back was his son, and because his brother and his sister-in-law had died, the man thought that he should take good care of his nephew. God will be y moved by such human virtues, thinking that people's hearts are so kind, how can we bear to harm them, they will be the gods burned down the earth's news to the man, to tell him to tell the people in June 25th day before the door lit torches, so as to avoid disaster. So thousands of families are in this night lit torches, the sky god thought people have long perished in the fire, they fell into a deep sleep, never woke up. Later, the Naxi people designated this day as the Torch Festival.
Lahu
There is a good man and an evil man living on the mountain, and the evil man specializes in eating human eyes. On June 24th, the good man wrapped beeswax around the horns of a goat, lit the beeswax and told the goat to find the evil man. When the evil man saw the sparks, he thought that the people had taken a musket to beat him, so he hurriedly hid in a cave and blocked the entrance with a stone, and as a result, was drowned by the water that came out of the cave. From then on, people no longer worry about the evil person to eat their eyes, and they can engage in production in peace and quiet. Therefore, the Lahu people have designated this day as the Torch Festival.
Bai people
In the torch festival legend of Bai people, there is also the famous legend of Anan (i.e., Man Aman), the storyline is largely consistent with the legend of female characters, Man Aman and Fire Burning Songming Building, which is the result of the cross-diffraction of the legend of characters and torch festival legend.
Yi
A long time ago, there was a Hercules in the sky called Sjak Abi, and there was a Hercules on the ground called Ati Laba, both of whom had the strength to pull up mountains. One day, Sjak Abi was going to have a wrestling match with Ati Raba, but Ati Raba had to go out on an urgent matter, and when he was leaving, he asked his mother to treat Sjak Abi with a plate of discus. Thinking that Ati Rabah must be very strong since he had the discus for his meal, Sjak Abi rushed away. When Atiraba returned, he heard from his mother that Sjarabi had just left, so he chased after him to have a wrestling match with him, which resulted in Sjarabi being thrown to his death. Knowing this, the sky god Entiguz was furious and sent hordes of locusts and borers to eat the crops on the ground.
The Athi Laba then in the old calendar June 24 that night, cut to many pine branches, wild artemisia branches tied into a torch, led the people to light up, to the field to burn insects. Since then, the Yi people have designated this day as the Torch Festival. King Saimei fought against the foreigners, his head was cut off, and when the star appeared, he grew another head to fight with them. Finally, due to the betrayal of the spies, cut off the head with a knife grass swept across the neck, the head of the King of Samui will never grow out of the death. It is said that the red spot on the knife grass is the blood of the king of Samui red. Later, the people of Samui would light torches on the 24th and 25th of June every year to commemorate King Samui and search for his spirit.
The Sani Tribe's "The Sani People's Torch Festival":
Afan, the good god, stole open the gate of heaven and scattered grains, so that the happiness on earth exceeded that in heaven. When the god of heaven saw this, he was furious and sent Hercules to the earth to take out his anger. Apan hated Hercules' dominance and wrestled with him, dropping Hercules to the ground and crushing out a pit, which was later turned into the blue Long Lake (Lunan Freshwater Lake) by heavenly rain. In honor of this earthly hero, people performed bullfighting, wrestling, slaughtering sheep and burning torches on the 24th day of the 6th lunar month to show their condolences.
The Torch Festival of the Ashi People of the Ashi Clan:
The slave master Na Long Long put many of his poor brothers in prison, and the poor people, such as A Zhen, tied torches to the horns of their goats and rushed to Na Long Long's mansion, burning the slave master to death, and at the same time burning the ropes on the hands of the poor people. In honor of this victory, it became customary for people to carry torches in procession.
The Magpie Girl of Luowu Branch:
The Luowu Yi family has a beautiful and capable girl, who has long been in love with the Yi boy A Long. However, men from twelve nearby tribes came to propose marriage, and one of them said that if they didn't agree, they would wash the cottage in blood and make the whole cottage suffer. The girl had no choice but to agree to a match on June 24th. Matchmaking period, the girl dressed in snow-white clothes, black coat, chest tie a piece of flower apron, burned a big pile of fire. The headmen of the twelve divisions also arrived. The girl looked y at Ah Lung and then jumped into the fire. A-long and a few young men tried to hold her back, but only the corner of her coat was pulled off. People rushed in from all directions, but she had already sacrificed herself to death. In her honor, the twelve lads lifted up the big ox and pushed it towards each other, with the winner being the one who pushes it down. After that, they killed the bull and drank wine, sang and danced. Later on, the Yi family designated June 24 as the Torch Festival. The corner of the clothes torn off by Aaron became the belt of the Yi women, and the smoke from the burning girl was transformed into the morning mist of the cottage. It is said that when the magpies chirp in the early morning, the girl's figure is faintly visible in the distance of the Yi mountains, so people call her the Magpie Girl.
History
The King of Nanzhao burned Songminglou, and Mrs. Charity was martyred
The early Tang Dynasty saw six tribes in Yunnan, known as the "Six Edicts". The southernmost tribe, Mengshezhao, was also known as Nanzhao. One day, the king of Nanzhao, Mr. Pilouge, invited the leaders of the other five tribes to a gathering. Mrs. Charity, the wife of the chief of Dengqinzhao, thought that Pilogak had bad intention and tried to persuade her husband not to go there. But her husband did not listen, when she was leaving, Mrs. Charity tearfully put an iron ring on her husband's arm, in order to protect his body. After that, PiLuGe really burned the chiefs gathered SongMingLou, five edict chiefs have not been spared. In the face of the ashes of Songming Building, Mrs. Charity cried out in pain. She threw herself in the ashes and pulled out the iron ring worn by her husband, and then she recognized his body and transported him home. Later, Pi Luoguo heard about this intelligent and virtuous Lady Charity and wanted to marry her. But how could Mrs. Charity marry again, after burying her husband, she closed the city to kill herself and follow her husband, leaving behind this touching story which is very touching. Since then, the white people of Yunnan will have a torch festival to commemorate the historical story of the "burning of the Songming Building" and the courageous and intelligent Mrs. Charity.
General Guo Shizhong killed his husband and wanted to take over his wife, and Mrs. Charity burned herself in the fire
Guo Shizhong, a lieutenant general of the Han Dynasty, killed the chief of Dali's Man'ana and found the chief's wife, Mrs. Anan, very pretty, so he wanted to take her as his wife. Mrs. Anan pretended to agree, but made three conditions for sacrificing her late husband. However, during the sacrifice of her husband, Anan set fire to the hearth and jumped into the blazing fire to burn herself to death. Anan's loyalty and bravery won the admiration of the people. From then on, every year in the day of Anan's death, the white compatriots will light torches, string township tour village, in order to commemorate.
Warriors wrestle with the devil, and people light torches to burn the sky worms
Legend has it that in the ancient times, there was a devil named ten vigorously, destroying people's happy life on earth. When people found it, they went up to it and questioned it. Ten Power savagely asked people to wrestle with him, and demonstratively tipped over a strong bull (from then on, bullfighting was the first thing to be done at the Torch Festival). His provocative behavior angered a Yi hero named Bao Cong. He stepped out of the crowd and wrestled with the ten strong for three days and nights. The people played the three strings and piccolos, clapped their hands and stomped their feet to support Bao Cong, and finally defeated Ten Power. The devil was angry and released locusts and other pests to spoil the hard-earned crops. So the people gathered again and lit a torch to burn the pests, and finally all the pests were burned to death, which happened to be the 24th day of the 6th month. Later, in order to commemorate this victory, every day, we have to kill cows and slaughter sheep, and hold a variety of activities of the Torch Festival, which reflects the spirit of the Yi people's struggle for a happy life in spite of the violence.
Killing taxes angered the gods, burning torches and fighting pests
A long time ago, the sky and the ground were connected. One year, the god of heaven, Siddhanta Kuja, sent Siddhanta Abi to the earth to collect taxes. Because of the disaster on earth and crop failure, people can not afford to pay the rent, the earth a can eat copper and iron Hercules Ou Tilaba tax collector Sijia Abi killed. The God of Heaven was furious and first sent a flood to drown the human beings on earth, but the flood was overcome by the people. God also released a variety of pests to the earth to eat the people's crops, Russia and the body of Raba and the group gathered around the fire pond to discuss ways to cure the bugs, inadvertently found a fall into the fire pond bugs quickly burned to death. Thus, the Russian body Raba organized the group to raise the torch burning insects, and ultimately defeated the pests, captured a good harvest. This has become a custom over time, forming the Yi Torch Festival.
The story of Princess Anan
Dali area, there is the story of Princess Anan: "Han Yuanfeng, Ye Yu (today's Dali), the woman Anan, the wife of the chief Manana. Na for the Han general Guo Shizhong killed, want to wife South, South said, can be from three things when you are allowed: a do curtain to sacrifice her husband; a burned her husband's clothes, easy to the new clothes; a so that the people of the country know that I married with the gift. Zhong as he said. Tomorrow, gather the people of the country, Zhang Songcurtain sacrifice to his husband, under the fire. Nan Zang knife out, once blazing, burning husband's clothes, that is to lead the knife to break his neck, servants in the fire. When the June 25th also, the people of the country mourn, every year to this day to burn a torch to hang, called the star back to the festival.
Implied significance
The formation of torch festival customs and legends, and the same origin of the Yi language branch of the peoples of the native worship, especially the belief in fire has a more direct link, in the southwest of the Yi language branch of the peoples of the torch festival activities are still maintained in the fire smoked field in addition to the evil spirits, the epidemic to go to the disaster, the extermination of pests to protect the seedlings, promote the seedlings of the spikes, praying for a good year, to attract the light to meet the blessing of the folklore function, the folk psychology and beliefs between. The folklore psychology and belief concept is to avoid bad luck. The torch festival legend of the Liangshan Yi people reflects the primitive worship of fire as a supernatural force with mysterious elements, and it still coalesces the original folklore genes of torch festival customs and legends, which belongs to the early form of torch festival customs, and its cultural kernel is the worship of fire, which is inherited from the cultural tradition of revering fire and respecting the sun of the Yi-speaking people of the Diziqiang system.
The Torch Festival legend has many different texts, which are similar to each other, although their sources are different. The structure of the text is according to the narrative program of the struggle between man and god → man's victory over the god → god's retaliation → man's victory over the god once again → victory and harvest celebration to structure the story. These different texts all have a strong humanistic spirit and all end with the announcement of man's victory and god's defeat, which is different from the god-dominated narrative in myths. With the development of society, historical changes, the transfer of the core problem of human existence (from nature to society) and the intensification of the contradictions and conflicts of class society, the legends of the Torch Festival are closely intertwined with the vast and complex social life of various ethnic groups, and then become a way of verbal narrative to express the ethnic conflicts and class conflicts. This kind of legend is secondary to the torch festival customary legend, the theme is to glorify ancestors and heroes.
The later infiltration of traditional morality into the torch festival customary legends is reflected in the intersection of female character legends and torch festival legends. Whether it is the early magpie girl, or later Anan, Mrs. Charity, most of them have a kind of **** the same "cast fire to burn themselves" fate of the end, this kind of legend on the one hand, reflecting the dark reality of the national oppression and class oppression and political intrigue within the ruling class, on the other hand, it is a "a woman not more On the other hand, it is a legend of a strong woman who "does not change her husband", which is meant to express the virtue of temperance. From the magpie girl, Anan to Mrs. Charity, a martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom of the loyal image of the country, people will be the fate of these kind and courageous female characters and the torch festival legend tightly linked together to express a particular historical period of people "into the virtuous and strong and denigrate the obscene and evil" feelings and aspirations. This kind of legend should be a later generation.
All in all, from the formation and evolution of the torch festival legend can be seen in the process of different layers of history, and the festival in the Southwest of the peoples of the long-term development of the same step, the torch festival legend in its long-lasting circulation in the continuous evolution, and even affect the festival in some areas, so that the original, "sacrificial "Torch Festival is also attached to the" commemorative festival "derived meaning, such as the legend of Heqing June 19 women with anemones red nails also attributed to the Charity Lady, said to be a memorial to the charity shaving the body of the husbands to shave the nails are bleeding or burned red.