1, the selection of handsome men and women
One of the important programs of the Yi Torch Festival is the selection of handsome men and women. The Yi people have their own unique aesthetic, the jury consists of folk respected old people, the selection results are absolutely fair. The conditions of beauty should not only look at the appearance but also look at the character of speech and behavior. For example, the conditions of beauty are: thick black hair, thick eyebrows, big eyes, high nose, long neck, delicate red skin, well-proportioned body (can not be too thin), speech and demeanor, good character, hardworking and other conditions. The conditions of handsome men are different: courageous and good at fighting, with a good instrument and a strong body. He should be graceful in speech and behavior, wear a hero's knot, a hero's belt and sword, a black woolen cloak, and hold a steed in his hand. Nowadays, this is a competition that takes place every year at the Torch Festival in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province.
2, three days and three nights of revelry
The torch festival generally lasts three days and three nights, the first day for the "all loaded", meaning to welcome the fire. On this day, villages and cottages will play cattle slaughter sheep and pigs, to wine and meat to meet the fire god, ancestor worship, women have to catch buckwheat buns, tsampa noodles, outside of the people have to go home to eat a reunion dinner, together around the fire to drink home-brewed wine, eat lumps of meat, *** with the sharing of joy and happiness. At nightfall, people from neighboring villages will set up an altar at a location chosen by the old man, striking the flint to light the sacred fire in the traditional way, and the Bimo (priest) will recite scriptures to offer the fire. Then, in every household, the old man of the family receives a torch made of artemesia sticks from the fire pit, and his children and grandchildren take the torch from the old man's hand and shine it all over every corner of the house, and then the corners of the fields and the hills, using the light of the fire to drive away illnesses and calamities. Finally, they gather on the hillside to play with the torches, sing and dance, and play various games. The second day of the festival is "Duge", which means to glorify and praise the fire, and is the climax of the festival. At dawn, men, women and children put on their festival attire, bring along boiled meat and buckwheat buns, and gather under the sacred fire at the altar to take part in a variety of traditional festival activities. Thousands of people gather to organize horse races, wrestling, singing, beauty contests, pole climbing, shooting, bullfighting, sheep fighting, cock fighting and other activities. Girls dressed in beautiful clothes dance the "Doloho". On this day, the most important activity is the beauty contest of the Yi family. Elderly people choose a beautiful man according to the image of the hard-working, brave and handsome Blackbody Laba in the legend. The beauty like Nizhang Azhi who is kind, intelligent, beautiful and generous is selected. When evening comes, thousands and thousands of torches, form a fire dragon, from all directions to the same place, and finally form countless bonfires, burning red sky. People dance and sing around the bonfire until late at night, which is a grand and joyful scene, and thus enjoys the reputation of "Oriental Carnival". When the bonfire to go out, a pair of young men and women with love quietly into the hillside, into the bushes, under the yellow umbrella, plucking the moon zither, strumming the mouth strings, telling each other how much they miss each other. Therefore, some people will also be the Yi torch festival called the "Oriental Valentine's Day". On the third day of the Torch Festival, it is called "Doha" or "Dusha" in Yi language, which means sending fire. This is the end of the entire Yi Torch Festival. When night falls on this day, after sacrificing to the fire god and having dinner, each family lights torches one after another, holding torches, walks to the agreed place, gathers together, sets up a fire altar, holds a fire-sending ceremony, recites scriptures and prays to the fire god, praying to the ancestors and the Bodhisattva to give their children and grandchildren health and happiness, and to give the earth a good harvest and joy. People dance with torches and chant the words of blessing, "burn the plague, burn the hunger, burn the disease, burn the year of peace and harvest" to pray for the peace of the family, the six animals to prosper. At this time, also with the first day of the slaughter of chicken wings and feathers, etc. together with the burning, symbolizing the evil spirits and the plague of the devil also burned. Then find a larger stone, the lighted torch, chicken feathers, etc. together under the stone, a metaphor for suppressing the devil, to protect the whole family prosperity, a good harvest, cattle and sheep fat. Finally, the mountains and villages under the village cottage dragon-like torches together, burning into a pile of bonfires, to show that the people are united as one, *** with the defense against natural disasters.
3, traditional activities
The torch festival held during the traditional wrestling, bullfighting, horse racing and other activities. These activities, from the hero black body Raba victory over the demon king (or God of heaven) legend, the hero and the demon king wrestling, wrestling, but also teach people to light torches to kill the evil spirit of locusts, to protect the village and crops. In order to commemorate this event, every year, the torch festival, we must symbolically repeat the story of the legend, and gradually become the main content of the festival activities.