Torch Festival in July
Torch Festival is celebrated for * * * three days:
Torch Festival Day 1: Sacrifice fire. On this day, every village will kill cattle and sheep, share them collectively, and prepare wine and meat to worship their ancestors. When night falls, people near the village will set up an altar at the location selected by the old people, and strike stones to light the flame in the traditional way, and Bimo (a Yi folk priest) will chant scriptures to offer sacrifices to the fire. Then, every household, adults and children will take the torch made of wormwood from Bimo and wander around the corner of the field, imitating the legend of Ashe's fire to repel insects.
the second day of torch festival: spread the fire. On this day, every family gathered under the sacred fire of the altar and held various traditional festivals. Boys should imitate the legendary Athiba, horse racing, wrestling, singing, bullfighting, sheep fighting and chicken fighting. The girls imitated the legendary Ashe, dressed in beautiful clothes, propped up butter umbrellas, and danced "Doloho" and body dance. On this day, the most important activity is the beauty contest of Yi family. The old people should choose the annual handsome men and beautiful women from the boys and girls according to the legendary standards of Athiba's diligence and courage, bravery, kindness, intelligence and beauty. As night falls, couples of sentient men and women, in the mountains, by the stream and under the yellow oil umbrella, pluck the yueqin, play the strings and tell each other about their lovesickness. Therefore, some people call Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival "Valentine's Day in the East".
the third day of torch festival: delivering fire. This is the climax of the entire Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival. On this day when night falls, everyone will run around with torches in their hands. Finally, people gathered their torches together to form huge bonfires, and happy people gathered around the bonfires to sing and dance heartily. The scene was extremely spectacular. Therefore, it is also known as "Oriental Carnival Night".
Torch Festival is an ancient and important traditional festival of Yi, Bai, Naxi, Jinuo, Lahu and other ethnic groups. It has a profound connotation of folk culture and is well-known at home and abroad. It is called "Carnival of the East". Different ethnic groups hold Torch Festival at different times, mostly on June 24th of the lunar calendar. The main activities are bullfighting, goat fighting, cockfighting, horse racing, wrestling, song and dance performances, beauty contests and so on. In the new era, Torch Festival has been endowed with new folk functions and produced new forms.
yi torch festival beauty pageant
yi people love and pursue beauty from generation to generation, and "beauty pageant" has been the most important and distinctive activity in the traditional torch festival of yi people since ancient times. It's different from the "beauty pageant" which is a commercial and artistic activity in today's world. The traditional folk "beauty pageant" of the Yi nationality, which has lasted for thousands of years, has very strict requirements. Beautiful Yi girls are dressed up, holding pholiota adiposa and slowly dancing around the fire on the lawn. The judges are all respected old people in the village. Their selection is critical and natural, depending not only on the girls' figure and appearance, but also on their dress; It also depends on their filial piety towards their parents and elders; More importantly, it is judged according to their usual moral conduct and hardworking reputation. In order to endow the Yi torch festival "beauty pageant" culture with new connotation and flavor of the times, and make this activity both traditional and contemporary, in 24, the China Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival "beauty pageant" specially set up the most beautiful audience award in order to mobilize the audience to participate, so that visitors from all directions can also show their elegance on the field. At the same time, not only the beautiful women and handsome men selected by the expert judges, but also the audience present have the opportunity to cast a vote, so that flowers can become the spokespersons of the audience and choose their favorite beautiful women and handsome men.
the contest of Yi people's torch festival
On the lawn, there is a traditional Yi folk sports activity: bullfighting-a loud horn sounded, two bulls glared at each other, and with a growl, two pairs of specially sharpened horns suddenly collided. The crowd around cheered and cheered, and the cows were stimulated and encouraged. Sometimes the frontier stormed, sometimes the enemy fought against each other, sometimes the blood splashed, and sometimes they waited for an opportunity to counterattack. The victorious bull wore red flowers on its head and neck, and was led around the field by its owner, which doubled its value and made it look beautiful.
fighting sheep-fighting sheep has a sense of humor and humor. Two rams came with their heads held high, and when they found their opponents, they rushed forward, and then they separated with a bang, nothing happened. After a few more times, at the end of the fight, two sheep were wiped and shook hands to make peace, regardless of the outcome. It was really funny.
Horse racing and cockfighting are all male competitions, which are the exuberance of the internal vitality of the nation, the collision of enterprising fire and wine, and the stubborn and intelligent sculptures of pioneering.
2 ways to celebrate
In the early morning of the festival, people planted a big pine tree at the mouth of their respective villages, symbolizing the incarnation of Ang Gumi. Trees are covered with small torches, and how many people there are in the village, small torches corresponding to the population should be hung on the trees. In the afternoon, after the "incarnation" was sacrificed with sacrificial rites, the "incarnation" was lit by the oldest old woman in the village. Participants took a small torch from the "avatar" and lit it on the "avatar". Later, under the leadership of the old woman, everyone danced the Pot-Zhuang Dance around the "incarnation" and praised Ang Gumi's contribution to spreading the fire. After praising the "incarnation", everyone met in groups, danced torches and danced in villages, fields and mountains to sing loudly. Pray for the blessing of Ang Gumi, the Vulcan God, and bless the whole village for human and animal prosperity, abundant grain, peace in the village and all the best ...
"Torch Festival" is celebrated for three days:
The first day of Torch Festival: offering fire. On this day, everyone wears their beloved dresses and is happy. Every village and village will kill cattle and sheep, set up banquets, all kinds of meat, fragrant and sweet wine, which are full of fragrance. If you worship it, God will be full of praise. When night falls, people near the village will set up an altar at the location selected by the old people, and strike stones to light the flame in the traditional way, and Bimo (a Yi folk priest) will chant scriptures to offer sacrifices to the fire. Then, every household, adults and children will take the torches made of wormwood from Bimo's hand, swim
Torch Festival
and walk in the corner of the field, imitating the legend that Ashe used fire to repel insects.
the second day of torch festival: spread the fire. On this day, every family gathered under the sacred fire of the altar and held various traditional festivals. Boys should imitate the legendary Athiba, horse racing, wrestling, singing, bullfighting, sheep fighting and chicken fighting. The girls imitated the legendary Ashima, dressed in beautiful clothes, propped up butter umbrellas, sang "Doloho" and danced to the body. On this day, the most important activity is the beauty contest of Yi family. Older people should choose the annual handsome men and women from the boys and girls according to the legendary standards of Athiba's diligence and courage, heroic spirit and handsome spirit, and Ashima's kindness, intelligence and beauty. As night falls, couples of sentient men and women, in the mountains, by the stream and under the yellow oil umbrella, pluck the yueqin, play the strings and tell each other about their lovesickness. Therefore, some people call Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival "Valentine's Day in the East".
the third day of torch festival: delivering fire. This is the climax of the entire Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival. On this day when night falls, everyone will run around with torches in their hands. Finally, people gathered their torches together to form huge bonfires, and happy people gathered around the bonfires to sing and dance heartily. The scene was extremely spectacular. Therefore, it is also known as "Oriental Carnival Night".
The Torch Festival lasts for three days and three nights, each with its own characteristics. Every night after dinner, a certain family starts to light torches, and then they rush to light torches and walk outside the village. People sing torch songs, and the songs resound through the valley with the spread of torches. Then, according to the established direction, a fire dragon came to the public entertainment venue. They gathered torches and burned them into a fire. The whole village people danced and played happily around the fire.
On the first night of the Torch Festival on June 24th of the lunar calendar, children play a game called "Eagle Catches Chicken" in addition to singing, dancing and hide-and-seek. One person dressed as an "eagle", the others lined up in a long queue, and grabbed the back of the former person in turn. The first person in the long queue dressed as a "hen" to protect the "chicken" behind. The eagle desperately grabs the chicken behind. When the chicken behind sees the eagle coming to grab it, the hen in front also desperately grabs the eagle. If the eagle is caught by the hen, it will come as a hen to defend the chicken. On the one hand, the chicken behind has to swing to avoid the eagle, on the other hand, it has to squeak. Before the game of "the eagle catches the chicken", the hen should spread its wings to protect the chicken (the pretender stretches out his hands) and imitate the hen by calling "Goo! Come on! " The eagle can start catching chickens.
The Torch Festival
Besides "the eagle catches the chicken", there is also a smaller game of "the fox protects the stones". When people burn a bonfire on the big open dam and play various games, the formality between the upper and lower generations disappears in this festive atmosphere. As the saying goes, Torch Festival is a fun festival, and it is not wrong to play for three days. Even those new wives who have just received their husband's family for the first Torch Festival (Liangshan Yi newlyweds usually start from the Torch Festival. ) I also hid behind my mother-in-law and sister-in-law with a blanket half covering my face shyly.
People revel until a crescent moon rises on the East Mountain before going home to rest. The girls are so excited that they simply don't sleep. You help me and I help you clean up. Prepare for the next day's dress, and prepare dry food, meat, fruit and other things, so as to better go to the place where we meet for the holidays.
3 Overview of activities
On the festival day, every household in Zhaili should erect some torches in front of the door to prepare for activities. At the same time, choose an open field near the village, erect a pine with a length of 1 ~ 2 meters in the center of the ground, put a wooden stick covered with red paper flowers horizontally at the top of the pine, and pile a pagoda-shaped torch around the edge pine with flammable firewood as an activity place. In the evening, the host of the festival led the gongs and drums team to beat the drums. When all the families in the village heard the gongs and drums, they went out to light torches, and men, women and children gathered at the event venue with torches. After people arrived, the host gave the order, and everyone raised their torches and ran to the pagoda-shaped torch to light it. At that time, the flames were blazing, and cheers were everywhere. Everyone held small torches around the big torch, danced "Harvest Dance", sang harvest songs, and sang and danced enthusiastically. At the end of the song and dance, people from all households walked to their fields with torches, held torch parades in scattered places, and traveled all over their fields to express their wish to eliminate pests, pray for good weather, ensure a bumper harvest of crops, ensure the safety of people and prosper six livestock. The Torch Festival of the Yi people in Zhijin takes Songshuping in Santang Town as the main event, and thousands of people attend it every year. The venue also erected an orderly monument to record the formation and continuation of the Torch Festival here. With the improvement of the economic and cultural living standards of the Yi compatriots, the atmosphere of the Torch Festival is getting more and more grand year by year. yi dance's "TongJingSheng Celebrates Harvest", which was compiled and practiced by the county ethnic cultural and art team based on the Torch Festival harvest dance, won favorable comments in provincial and local performances.
4 Activity Contents
Torch Festival has become an important festival of the Yi people since its spread. The main celebration programs are as follows:
Bullfighting: In the big circle surrounded by people, two fierce and sturdy bull horns are fighting hard against each other in the shouting of the owner and the shouting of the audience. The cow that won the final victory will be dressed in red and get a prize, and everyone will come forward to praise the owner of this cow as a good herdsman in order to raise such a good cow.
Wrestling: Wrestling is very popular in Yi people, which can be divided into two types: tripping and not tripping, with falling as the loss; Different villages choose the strongest and capable wrestling experts to compete. The winners are not only awarded prizes, but also celebrated and encouraged by their own villages with delicious food such as wine, sheep and cattle.
In addition, there is a wonderful archery competition, and there are many teenagers riding horses and Yi girls wearing bright costumes everywhere in the venue. They are singing and dancing, and onlookers are singing and singing. There are joyful songs and old people smiling from ear to ear everywhere, and even tourists from afar are infected with the festive atmosphere.
Enthusiastic bonfire party
Night falls, people eat delicious barbecue, then light the flame with pine branches and run around with torches in their hands, praying to eliminate pests and diseases and pray for a bumper harvest year after year.
Enthusiastic people surrounded the torches into piles of bonfires, and thousands of Yi people danced the "Big Three-string" dance. All of them immediately immersed themselves in the sea of fire, singing, dancing and flowers, and danced wildly until the sky was white and the cock sang dawn.
Torch Festival is also a good time for boys and girls to light their love seedlings and convey their affection. Girls wear their own sewn clothes to show their dexterous skills, and boys win their hearts and smiles in various competitions and performances.
At this moment, they have all found their sweetheart. According to the custom, the man can snatch the token from the woman as a pledge. They also sang and danced wildly all night, expressing their love to each other, and their continuous affection and blazing fire lit up the night sky and the hearts of lovers.
6 Folk Culture
Due to the long-term diachronic development (in time dimension) and regional evolution (in space dimension), the folk cultural connotation presented by Torch Festival can't be the single form in the early days, but a compound form, which includes many activities in traditional society, including religion, belief, ethics, singing and dancing, skills, folk aesthetics and other rich connotations. The "Torch Festival Legend" widely circulated among the people provides us with the possibility of analysis and research.
7 birthplace
beautiful and simple Puge
If you want to see the original Torch Festival, go to Puge! Puge is the birthplace of Torch Festival. The development of infrastructure facilities in Yi areas is slow, and the Torch Festival in most places ends in one day. In the evening, everyone goes home to eat and live, and then goes to other towns to join in the fun the next day. The Torch Festival in the whole Yi area will last for more than half a month. The activities of the Torch Festival mainly include bullfighting, horse racing, goat fighting, cockfighting and beauty pageant.
of course, the competition is wonderful, and the farm food outside is also very interesting! I use fun to describe it, because the Yi people have always been very fastidious about diet, and even have been described by the outside world as "rude" eating methods. Tuotuo meat, for example, is to cut the belt bones of pigs, cows and sheep into fist-sized chunks, cook them with white water, dip them in salt, litsea cubeba (the root of a local plant has seasoning effect) and pepper, and tear them and eat them.
apart from the meat, Puge's barbecue is also famous. Many Xichang people specially drove for two hours to join in, until the Huangjia barbecue head office opened in Xichang, so Xichang talents didn't have to travel so much.
authentic Huang barbecue, the signboard is green, and the one with the boss's head on it is the one.
Outside the Torch Festival, there is an open-air stall selling Puge barbecue. I asked the young man how much it was, and he smiled and held up three fingers: "It's all the same big and small, just pick. Don't be greedy, there is too much fat to eat. " I can't help laughing. This boy is honest and lovely in honest and frank. No wonder the "high price" of $3.1 can be surrounded by a fast food stall and the business is still booming. Picked a small piece near the ribs, while wondering whether it can be comparable to Guangdong's roast suckling pig, while biting it down, the skin is hard and not brittle, the gravy is rich, and the fragrance is not greasy, but strictly speaking, it can only be regarded as another interpretation of the meat, which is basically the original flavor of the meat.
The small pieces of meat didn't satisfy our stomach, and the fast food products didn't suit our appetite. We decided to leave the meeting for a while and go to Luojishan County at the foot of the mountain to look for the instant sauerkraut chicken soup.
The Yi area and even the whole Sichuan area like to eat roosters, and their meat is more tender. The sauerkraut of the Yi people is different from our common pickled sauerkraut made of Chinese cabbage, mustard and potherb. Their sauerkraut is cooked with green vegetables or radish stalks and dried for 1 days.