The origin of the torch festival and the way to celebrate

The Torch Festival is an ancient and important traditional festival of Yi, Bai, Naxi, Jinuo, Lahu and other torch festival nationalities, which has deep folk cultural connotation, and is known as the "Oriental Carnival" at home and abroad. Different ethnic groups hold the Torch Festival at different times, mostly on the 24th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, with main activities such as bullfighting, sheep fighting, cock fighting, horse racing, wrestling, singing and dancing performances, beauty contests, etc. In the new era, the Torch Festival has been recognized as one of the most important traditional festivals in the world. In the new era, the Torch Festival has been endowed with new folkloric functions and produced new forms. The Torch Festival is a traditional festival of the Yi, Bai, Naxi, Lahu, Hani and Pumi ethnic groups. The Yi, Naxi and Jinuo are held on the 24th day of the 6th lunar month (today), the Bai are held on the 25th day of the 6th lunar month, and the Lahu are held on the 20th day of the 6th lunar month, and the festival lasts for two or three days. The Yi believe that the Torch Festival is to grow ears of grain as thick as torches. Later generations sacrificed fire to drive away ghosts and evil spirits in the fields to keep people and animals safe. During the festival, male and female youth of all ethnic groups or lighted torches made of pine wood, to the village field activities, while walking the pine incense scattered to the torch to the sky to pray for the New Year, in addition to the obscene and seek good luck; or singing, dancing, horse racing, bullfighting, wrestling; or hold a grand bonfire party, all-night revelry. Now, people also use the set of torch festivals will get together, socializing or lovers will meet, and in the festival to carry out trade activities.　Live in Heqing, Lijiang adjoining the five peaks of the foothills of the Bai and Naxi, to the torch festival night, to organize fire activities. People in the village on all the trees, tied into groups, bundles of saffron, symbolizing "safflower fire tree such as torch". When the first star appeared on the sky, people danced with a handful of lighted torches, sang and danced, and sang a hymn to the "Saffron Fire Tree".　The Pumi people living in Nyingchi County, to the Torch Festival this day, to be held in praise of the fire god activities. According to legend, the Pumi people worship the fire god called Ang Gumi, originally the female ancestor of the Mosuo people. She for the sake of the children and grandchildren and the happiness of the Pumi people living with this ethnic cluster, sneaked into the Palace of Heaven to steal the fire, and their own bodies as a torch to the fire to the earth, so that the Mosuo people and the Pumi people at the same time to get the fire. In order to generations not forget the kindness of Aung Koo Mi, the Pumi people will bring the fire Aung Koo Mi this day is set as a festival in honor of the God of Fire.　Early in the morning of the festival, people will be in their respective villages, planting a large pine tree, symbolizing the incarnation of Angkumi. The tree is filled with small torches, and the number of people in the village is matched by the number of small torches hung on the tree. In the afternoon, after the incarnation has been sacrificed with animals, an old woman, who is the oldest in the village, lights the incarnation on fire. Each participant takes a small torch from the "incarnation" and lights it on the "incarnation" as well. Afterwards, led by the old woman, the crowd dances a potshoong around the "incarnation" to praise Aung Koo Mi's dedication to passing on the fire. Salute to the "incarnation", people meet into groups, hand-dancing torches, through the dance in the village, fields, mountains and forests to sing. Pray for the fire god Aung Gumi blessing, blessing the village people and animals prosperous, grain abundance, village peace, everything is as good as it can be ...... fire dance singing species Huangping Township is a hot area of Heqing County, affluent. It is rumored that the inhabitants here are the descendants left behind by Kong Ming and Meng Yu who cantoned their armies here back then. This fertile land was reclaimed by Kong Ming and Meng Yu when they allied **** with each other. And on the night of June 24th, the fire was lit at night, the seeds of grains were sown for the first time, and the deserted meadow has become a good field since then. In order to commemorate this day, every day, the descendants will point torches night battle sowing small spring crops. At that time, the old man and the children waved torches, singing and dancing around the field, and the young people sowing seeds in the field. Labor production and folk activities into one, another flavor.　Throughout the ages, the annual Torch Festival night of all ethnic groups are celebrated in the same region, from the cottage to the town, from the mountains to the dam, everyone lit torches, hand in hand with the foot into a circle singing and dancing. The old man played the usual dusty moon harp, the young man played the flute that has not touched for a long time, and the girls played the mouth string hanging on their chests, praying for a good harvest every year, and the prosperity of six animals, and singing about the good life. Under the moonlight, a handful of torches, a pile of burning bonfires, like a star in the sky fell to earth, everywhere is the world of fire, everywhere is the sea of song and dance. People sing and dance happily, and the lively scene of the torch festival night has been described by many writers throughout the ages.　Torch Festival of three days and three nights, are unique, each night after dinner, the first by a family began to light torches, and then scrambled to light up the torches to the village, people sing torch songs, singing with the spread of the torches resounded through the valley. Subsequently, according to the agreed direction and form a fire dragon to the public **** recreation ground, they will focus the torch into a pile of big fire, the whole village people around the fire, happy dancing games.　In the reform and opening up, the party's national policy shining today, the torch festival gives a newer mass, entertainment, diversity of content. People not only inherit and carry forward the part of its excellent traditional culture, but also dissolve into the breath of the times, constituting a new scene. For example, during the festival, foreign tourists, tourists from inside and outside the province come in large numbers, people doing business come in large numbers, the outsiders far outnumber the locals, and the torch festival becomes a means and an opportunity to attract people from all walks of life to come for sightseeing, tourism, and trade negotiation. All kinds of mass cultural and sports performances are also more colorful than one year, and the folk festival has naturally become a regional festival, from the village festival to the urban and rural festivals, from a single ethnic festival to a multi-ethnic **** with the festival. Not many people really know and understand the Yi people, but when it comes to the "Torch Festival" and "Axi Moon Jumping", people will not feel unfamiliar. But then again, to understand the original flavor of the torch festival or in the countryside, especially away from the urban areas of the remote villages to have folk customs of authentic flavor.　On the first night of the Torch Festival on June 24th of the lunar calendar, children in addition to singing, dancing, hide-and-seek, but also to do a game called "the eagle catches the chickens". By a person pretending to be "eagle", the rest of the people lined up in a long line, in turn, grabbed the front of a person's back hem, the first person pretending to be a long line of "mother hen" to protect the back of the "chickens". The "eagle" desperately trying to catch the back of the "chickens", the back of the "chickens" to see the "eagle" to catch, the front of the "hen". The "mother hen" also tries to catch the "eagle", and if the "eagle" is caught by the "mother hen", she has to act as the "mother hen" to defend the chicks. If the eagle is caught by the hen, it has to act as the hen to defend the chicks. The chick at the back has to swing to avoid the eagle on the one hand, and "squeak" on the other. Before the game of "The Eagle Catches the Chicks", the answer: the hen spreads her wings to protect the chicks (the one who plays the hen spreads his hands) and calls like the hen, "Goo Lai! Goo-lai!" Then the eagle starts to catch the chick.　In addition to "eagle catching chicks", there is also a smaller "fox protecting stones" game. That is, a person pretending to be a mother fox, hands and feet on the ground, under the body of three stones pretending to be a fox, a person pretending to be a tiger to catch the "mother fox" under the stone, the mother fox kicked the tiger, the tiger will have to come to replace the mother fox to guard the fox.　When people set up a bonfire on Dachangba and play various games, the constraints between the upper and lower generations disappear in the atmosphere of this festival. As the saying goes, the Torch Festival is a festival of play, and there is nothing wrong with playing for three days. Even the new daughters-in-law who just took over their in-laws for the first Torch Festival (newlyweds of Liangshan Yi people usually start sitting in the pot from the Torch Festival). Even the new daughters-in-law (Liangshan Yi newlyweds usually start sitting on the pots from the Torch Festival), who have just been brought to their in-laws' home for the first Torch Festival, hide their faces half-covered by their shawls and watch the spectacle from behind their in-laws.　People go home and rest until the moon rises over the eastern mountains. The girls were so excited that they didn't sleep, so they helped each other dress up. They prepare their clothes for the next day and prepare dried food, meat, fruits and other things so that they can travel to the place where they meet for the festival.　The Torch Festival is not only a traditional festival for every family, but also a festival for relatives and friends from different families to get together. Edit this section to celebrate the way "Torch Festival" celebrated *** three days: Torch Festival Day 1: Fire Festival. On this day, everyone wears their beloved dresses and is happy. Villages and hamlets will slaughter cows and sheep, and set up banquets with a variety of meat and sweet and fragrant wine, which are fragrant and overflowing, to honor the gods, who will also praise them. When night falls, people from neighboring villages will set up an altar at a place chosen by the old people, light the sacred fire by striking a stone in the traditional way, and have the Bimo (Yi folk priests) recite scriptures to offer the fire. Then, every family, adults and children will take the torch made of artemesia grass from the hands of Bimo, and walk in the corners of the fields during the Torch Festival, following the legend of Ash ugly woman who drove away insects with fire.　　The second day of the Torch Festival: passing the fire. On this day, every family gathers under the sacred fire at the altar to hold all kinds of traditional festival activities. The boys are expected to emulate the legendary Ati Raba by racing horses, wrestling, singing, fighting bulls, sheep and chickens. The girls follow the example of the legendary Ashima, wearing beautiful clothes, holding up butter umbrellas, singing "Doloho" and dancing. On this day, the most important activity is the Yi beauty contest. Elderly people have to select the annual beauty contest from among the boys and girls according to the standards of the legendary Ati Raba, who is industrious, brave and handsome, and Ashima, who is kind, intelligent and beautiful. At nightfall, a pair of loving men and women, in the mountains, on the banks of the stream, under the yellow umbrellas, plucking the moon lyre, playing the mouth string, telling each other how much they love each other. Therefore, some people call the Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival the "Valentine's Day of the East".　　The third day of Torch Festival: sending fire. This is the climax of the entire Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival. When night falls on this day, everyone will run around with torches in their hands. Finally, people will get together with the torches in their hands 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, which is an extremely spectacular scene. Therefore, it is also known as the "Oriental Carnival Night". Edit this section of the activities outlined on the day of the festival, the village households should be in front of the door erected a number of torches, ready to use the activities. At the same time in the village near the choice of a piece of open land, in the center of the ground erected a 10 to 20 meters long pine, the top of the pine across a stick full of red paper flowers, the edge of the green pine around the flammable firewood piled up into a pagoda-shaped torch, as the activities of the place. In the evening, the host of the festival led the gong and drum team to beat the gong and drums, Walled House heard the sound of gongs and drums that go out and light torches, men, women and children holding torches to the activities of the place to converge. After people arrived, the host gave a call, everyone lifted the torch to the pagoda-shaped torch to run, will be lit. A moment of fire in the sky, the sound of joy, everyone held a small torch around the big torch, dancing "harvest dance", singing a harvest song, singing and dancing, passionate and exuberant. At the end of the song and dance, people from different families held torches to their own fields, scattered torch parade, has been to swim all over their fields, as an expression of the elimination of pests, wishing and praying for rain and wind, to ensure that a good harvest, peace of mind, the wish of the six beasts of prey. Zijin Yi Torch Festival, to the three towns of Songshuping festival scene for the big, every year there are thousands of people to participate. There is also an orderly monument in the activity place, which describes the formation and continuation of the Torch Festival here. In recent years, with the improvement of the economic and cultural living standard of Yi compatriots, the atmosphere of the Torch Festival is also more grand than one year, the county national cultural team to the Torch Festival Harvest Dance as the material for the Yi dance "Copper bells ringing to celebrate the harvest" to participate in the provincial and local performances won praise. Edit this section of the activities of the Torch Festival has been passed down to the present day, has become an important festival of the Yi people to celebrate the main programs are: Bullfighting: in the people surrounded by a large circle, the two fierce and sturdy bullock horns against the horns, in the master of the yell, the audience's cries of desperation to fight. The final victorious bull will be decorated with red colors and prizes, and everyone will come forward to praise the owner of the bull for being a good farmer and raising such a good bull.　Wrestling: Wrestling is a very popular activity among the Yi people, and there are two kinds of wrestling: tripping and non-tripping, and the one who falls down is the one who loses; different villages elect the strongest and most capable wrestlers to compete in the competition, and the winners are not only awarded prizes, but also celebrated and encouraged by their own villages with wine, sheep, cows and other delicacies.　In addition, there are wonderful archery competitions, and the venue is always gathering many youngsters on horseback and Yi girls in brightly colored costumes, who sing and dance to each other, while the onlookers sing and sing along with them, filled with joyful singing and smiling old people everywhere, and even visitors from afar are infected with the festive atmosphere.　Passionate bonfire party At night, people eat fragrant barbecue meat, and then light a flame with a pine branch and run around with a torch in their hands, praying for the elimination of insect pests and diseases, and praying for a good harvest in successive years.　Enthusiastic crowd, the torch into a pile of bonfires, thousands of Yi children jumped up "big three strings" dance, all of them instantly immersed in the sea of fire, sea of song, sea of dance and the sea of flowers, singing and dancing until the sky spit the white, rooster sings the dawn.　Torch Festival is also a good time for young boys and girls to ignite their love and convey their feelings, the girls wear their own sewing clothes to show their dexterity, and the young men in all kinds of competitions and performances to win the girls' hearts and smiles.　At this moment, they have found a sweetheart, according to customary male can snatch the female body of the token, as a token of love; they also take the all-night singing and dancing, expressing their love for each other, sheer affection and fire, illuminating the night sky, but also illuminated the hearts of lovers.