The legend of the Yi Nationality’s Flower Arrangement Festival
Every year on the eighth day of the second lunar month is a unique traditional festival for the Yi people. The Flower Arrangement Festival is a festival in Tanhua Mountain District, Dayao County, Yunnan Province. It is particularly grand and grand. The following brings you the legend of the Yi Flower Arrangement Festival. Welcome to browse!
The legend of the Yi Flower Arrangement Festival
Once upon a time, there was a strong man in the sky named Sire'a. For example, there is a strong man on the ground named Atilaba. Both of them have the power to lift mountains. No one can knock them down. Sireabi heard that Atilaba was a strong man on earth and was very capable, so he came down from the sky and competed with him. Atilaba happened to be going out that day. Before leaving, he said to his mother: "The strong man in the sky came to me and asked the old man to carry a piece of iron to entertain him. He said this is what I eat and asked him to have a taste." Let him wait for a while and I'll come right back to wrestle him. ?
After saying that, Atilaba left. After a while, Sireabi came. Atilaba's mother really carried a piece of iron to Sireabi. Sireabi took a bite and couldn't move it. He thought: If Atilaba eats iron, he must be stronger than me. After thinking about it, he hurried back.
After Atilaba came back, his mother told the story. When Atilaba heard that Sreabi could not bite the iron, he knew that he must not be as strong as himself, so he ran to Chasing Sire Abhi. Just as Sireabi was about to go to heaven, Atilaba caught up with him.
? Don’t leave. Since you asked me to wrestle, let’s have a competition!?
After hearing his words, Sireabi opened his hands and hugged him fiercely. Stopping him, the two began to wrestle. Their strength was truly astonishing. The ground rattled and the mountains and trees shook. Sreabi hugged Atilaba and threw him. Atilaba staggered and was pressed to the ground by Sreabi. But before his back touched the ground, Atilaba stood up, rolled over Sreabi's head and pressed on top of him. Sireabi fell on his back, but he refused to admit defeat and asked for another fall. This time. Atilaba stood in a riding position, and Sireabi threw him hard. His feet seemed to be rooted and he was motionless. Taking advantage of the opponent's inattention, Atilaba grabbed one of the opponent's arms and threw it hard. Sireabi was thrown more than two feet away and lay on the ground unable to move. When Atilaba came closer, he saw that Sireabi was vomiting blood and was already dead.
When Atilaba returned home, the Bodhisattva Tian was very angry after knowing that Sireabi was thrown to death, but he had no way to deal with Atilaba, so he sent a large number of insects to eat crops on the ground. On the night of the 24th day of the sixth lunar month, Atilaba cut down many pine trees and led people to burn insects. He burned all the insects sent by Tian Bodhisattva and protected the crops. From then on, the Yi people designated the 24th day of the sixth lunar month as the Torch Festival.
Extended reading
1. The origin of the Flower Arrangement Festival of the Yi people
Every year on the eighth day of February, it is the Flower Arrangement Festival of the Yi people, also called the Lantana Flower Festival. Where did it come from? A long time ago, the whole world flooded and submerged the land. Only two brothers and sisters were left in the world. They hid in a big gourd, and the mouth of the gourd was sealed with wax. This gourd drifted in the flood for many days, and it was unknown where it drifted. One day, the flood began to recede, revealing the tops of mountains and treetops. The gourd fell on a branch of a big tree. The eagle was flying on the top of the mountain. It heard the sound in the gourd. It was the human seed inside! The eagle picked up the gourd and put it on the top of the mountain. Now the gourd has a thin waist, which was caught by the eagle back then. The mouse came out of the ground, and he heard the sound in the gourd. It was the human seed inside. The mouse gnawed through the wax, and a light appeared in the gourd. The brother and sister crawled out according to the light. They are the only ones left in the desolate world.
2. Brother and sister got married
The golden turtle old man came to the brother and sister and said: "In order to pass on the human race, you are the only one to get married."
The brother and sister replied: "How can they get married if they are born to the same parents?" The old man said: "There are only two of you, so you must get married." The brother and sister were in a dilemma. The elder brother thought for a moment and said, "Let's each burn a stick of incense on one side and ask the gods if the incense sticks rise and twine together, then we can get married." ?As a result, the cigarettes rose up and really came together, but the sister insisted and refused to get married. The brother said: ?We are grinding on the top of the mountain. If the two grinding wheels come together, we can get married. ?They did it like this again, and as a result, the two grinding mills came together without any bias. That is, my sister still refuses to get married. My sister said: "We are rolling a dustpan once. If the two dustpans are not lopsided and not crooked, but face to face, we can get married." ?As a result, the two dustpans really fit together. The golden turtle old man said: "What else do you have to say? Just get married." The sister tried again to no avail, so she added: "How can we get married without the orders of our parents and without the evidence of a matchmaker?" The old man with a golden turtle replied: "The human population has been extinct. Where can we find people? Look, that pine tree is your father, that evergreen tree is your mother, and that plum tree over there is your matchmaker." Just get married. ?The brother and sister could no longer hold on. In order to pass on the human race, they finally got married.
3. Giving birth to a meat ball
Twelve months later, my sister became pregnant and gave birth to a child. Unfortunately, it was not human-shaped, but a meat ball. What should I do? The younger sister blames the elder brother, and the elder brother blames the old man. At this time, the golden turtle old man appeared again. He came to congratulate the brother and sister with a smile: "You have given birth to human race." ?After that, he drew out his sword and split the flesh with one stroke, revealing fifty-six boys and fifty-six girls. The fleshy skin covering the human body was still bleeding. The old man picked it up with his sword and threw it on a small tree nearby. From then on, the tree bloomed with red ying flowers. This day is the eighth day of the second lunar month. After fifty-six boys and girls were born, how could the sister feed these children alone? At this time, birds and beasts came to help, and they took away the children one by one. We, the Yi people, were raised on wild horse milk, so we, the Yi people, do not eat horse meat now. Fifty-six boys and girls married each other when they grew up, and today they are the fifty-six ethnic groups including Yi, Han, Miao, Hui, Tibetan, Bai, and Dai. All ethnic groups are descendants of the same parents.
4. Looking for parents
When fifty boys and girls grew up, they couldn’t find their parents, so they set out to look for them together. The first thing they encountered was a bumblebee. They asked: "Brother Bumblebee, have you seen our parents?" The bumblebee was flying around buzzing and ignoring people. A man used a branch to pull it away. After being beaten down, his waist was broken. Another man picked it up again, tied it with a ponytail and let it fly away. From then on, the bumble bee became a slim waist and stung every person it saw. The second time they encountered a pine tree, they asked: "Grandpa Pine Tree, where are our parents?" The pine tree replied impatiently: "I didn't see them. What parents? I fell on my shoulder and crushed them to death." . ?People said: ?Okay, when the population grows, you can cut down one tree. ?So, today, pine trees are used to build houses. The third encounter was a palm tree. People asked: Brother Palm Tree, have you seen our parents? The Palm Tree replied: No, if you saw them, you would skin them. ?People say: ?Huh, one day when there are more people, I will definitely skin you. ?So now a layer of bark from the palm trees has to be peeled off every year. People continued to walk forward and encountered a Luohanshan tree. People asked: "Brother Luohanshan, can you see our parents?" Luohanshan replied: "We were still enjoying the cool here just now!" People became happy and found our parents. People thanked Podocarpus and said: Thank you. In the future, if your branches are broken or cut down, the roots will grow again. ?So now even if there is only a little podocarpus left, it will still sprout again. People continued to walk forward and met a little bee. People asked: "Little bee, can you see our parents?" The bee said: "I just passed by that yakou." People happily said: "Good-hearted bee, when people multiply in the future, you can live with them."
The bee replied: "That's great. If I can live with people, I will also provide them with some food every year." ?So now people have to harvest honey once a year. People chased to the pond, met a willow tree, and asked: "Sister Yangliu, can you see our parents?" Yangliu replied: "Yes, we were still drinking water just now." ?People said excitedly: ?Good-hearted willow, you will definitely have good results and take root everywhere. ?From then on, willow trees were very easy to plant, and they could survive no matter how they were planted
5. Settlement
People kept moving forward, but unfortunately they never met their parents. Just seeing the red lantana flowers all over the hillside, they came down. Every eighth day of the second lunar month is a festival for our Yi people. On this day, men, women, old and young dance together, sing folk songs, kill chickens and cook meat to celebrate, and put Lantana flowers everywhere. This is the origin of the Lantana Festival
6. Festival activities
p>Dayao Yi Flower Arrangement Festival is a unique traditional festival of the Yi people. The local Yi people pick flowers such as horse cherry blossoms (azaleas) from the mountains and insert them on house doors, farm tools and other places and on some sacred places. At that time, people dressed in festive costumes gather together to sing and dance, hold flower sacrifice activities, and put horse cherry blossoms on each other to express their best wishes and pray for a prosperous life. On the beautiful Tanhua Mountain, there are seas of people, singing everywhere, and lively scenes of Yi people celebrating festivals everywhere. Yi people from all over the world gathered together in Yi costumes to sing, laugh and dance together. People picked horse cherry blossoms from the mountains and took a tour of Tanhua Mountain; some relatives and friends invited them to sit in front of a makeshift stall on the roadside, and asked for a bowl of delicious whole lamb soup pot and a portion of freshly baked bitter buckwheat cake. Drink the mellow Baogu wine; or sing and answer melodious Yi tunes with the Lusheng. Before one song falls, another song comes up again, floating among the flowers and under the forest, intoxicated in the spring. The Dayao Yi Flower Arrangement Festival holds a grand ceremony to worship the God of Flowers every year. Bimo (priest) holding a bell chants scriptures and prays to the God of Flowers to bless mankind and bring health and happiness to the Yi people for generations. ;