What is the Torch Festival?

Introduction to Torch Festival Torch Festival is an ancient and important traditional festival of Yi, Bai, Naxi, Jinuo and Lahu. It has a profound connotation of folk culture and is called "Carnival of the East". Different ethnic groups hold Torch Festivals at different times, mostly on June 24th of the lunar calendar. The main activities are bullfighting, goat shooting, cockfighting, horse racing, wrestling, song and dance performances, beauty contests and so on. In the new era, the Torch Festival has been endowed with new folk functions and produced new forms. Torch Festival is celebrated for three days: the first day of Torch Festival: offering fire. On this day, everyone puts on their favorite clothes and is happy. Every village will kill cattle and sheep, hold banquets, all kinds of meat, fragrant and sweet wine, and the aroma is overflowing. 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 man, and tap stones to light the flame in the traditional way. Bimo (a Yi folk priest) will recite the scriptures and offer sacrifices to Vulcan. Then, every household, adults and children will wander in the corner of the field with torches made of wormwood from Bimo, imitating Asher's legend of fire repellent. The second day of Torch Festival: spread the fire. Every family gathers under the sacred fire of the altar and holds various traditional festivals. Boys should imitate the legendary Atiba, horse racing, wrestling, singing, bullfighting, fighting sheep and cockfighting. The girls imitate the legendary Ashima, wearing beautiful clothes and holding a butter umbrella, singing Doloho and dancing with their bodies. On this day, the most important activity is the beauty contest of Yi family. Older people should choose handsome men and beautiful women of the year from boys and girls according to the legendary standards such as Ashiba's hard work, courage, handsome spirit and Ashima's kindness, intelligence and beauty. As night falls, a pair of affectionate men and women, in the mountains, by the stream, under the butter umbrella, pluck Qin Yue, 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". Torch Festival Day 3: Send 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. People gathered torches together to form huge bonfires, and happy people sang and danced around the bonfires. The scene is extremely spectacular. Therefore, it is also called "Oriental Carnival Night". Yi people think that the ears of grain that will grow after the Torch Festival are as thick as torches. Later generations used this as a sacrifice to drive away ghosts and evil spirits at home, so as to keep people and animals safe. During the festival, young men and women of all ethnic groups light torches made of pine and go to the fields in the village for activities. While walking, sprinkle rosin on the torch to pray for the new year, and get rid of filth for good luck; Or singing, dancing, horse racing, bullfighting, wrestling; Or hold a big bonfire party and party all night. Nowadays, people also use parties to socialize or meet lovers, and conduct business activities on festivals.

Torch festival nation

Torch Festival is a traditional festival of Yi, Bai, Naxi, Lahu, Hani, Pumi, Kazak and other ethnic groups. Yi nationality and Jinuo nationality are on June 24th, Naxi nationality and Bai nationality are on June 25th, and Lahu nationality is on June 20th. This festival lasts for three days.

Overview of torch festival legend

First of all, the formation of the custom and legend of Torch Festival is related to the primitive worship of Yi people of the same ethnic origin, especially the belief in fire, which is more directly related to praying for the New Year with the sacred flame and occupying agriculture with the color of fire; The light and shadow of the torch occupied a year of abundance and regret. In addition to the oral holiday legends of various ethnic groups, China's literature records that: Shi's Dian Series says: "Torch Festival is Chinese Valentine's Day. On June 25, farmers held torches to shine in the fields and prayed for the new year, which is natural in all provinces. " Xu Yinfang's Textual Research on Five Miscellaneous Stories and Star Festival also said: "The day of the festival is evening. Every household burns trees at the same time, secluded in the house, mumbling poor words, while farmers hold fire to pray for the new year, graze and fish, and seek profit in the light. " "The tree fell down, the men and women pulled their clothes across the fire, and the ministers congratulated each other:' The evil star was removed, and the foul gas was solved.' "Yuan Jiagu's" Shiping County Chronicle, Tian Wen Zhi Shi Nianmen "also said:" On June 25, Zhu Tian set fire to the fields, and it was a disaster at dawn. Young people were fighting each other to win or lose the village. "In addition to literature records, in the Torch Festival activities of the Yi people in Southwest China, the folk functions of fumigating fields with fire, expelling epidemics, killing insects and protecting seedlings, urging seedlings to germinate, praying for a bumper harvest and attracting light to welcome Fu Rui were still maintained. The folk psychology and belief concept in this period was to seek good fortune and avoid evil. The legend of the Torch Festival of Liangshan Yi nationality reflects the worship of fire, a supernatural force with mysterious factors, in primitive society, and still embodies the original ecological folklore genes of the torch festival customs and legends. It belongs to the early form of torch festival custom, and its cultural core is fire worship, which is in the same strain as the cultural tradition of Yi people worshiping fire in the border strong system. Secondly, there are many different versions of the torch festival legend. Although the sources are different, they are all similar. The text structure of the story follows the narrative procedure of the struggle between man and God → man conquers God → God retaliates → man conquers God again → celebrates victory and gains a bumper harvest. These different texts all have strong humanistic spirit, and they all end in declaring the victory of man and the failure of God, which is different from the narrative mode dominated by God in mythology. With the development of society, the change of history, the shift of the core problem of human existence (from nature to society) and the intensification of class social conflicts, the legend of Torch Festival is closely intertwined with the vast and complicated social life of all ethnic groups, and then becomes an oral narrative way to express ethnic contradictions and class contradictions. For example, the legends of various branches of the Yi people in Yunnan are the epitome of the struggle between the ruler and the ruled. There are not only magical stories praising King Shamei's heroic and unyielding resistance to foreign invasion, but also a direct description of the resistance struggle of a slave with both wisdom and courage, Azhen, who planned to kill the slave owner and save his brother. This kind of legend is a minor torch festival custom, with the theme of praising ancestors and heroes. Furthermore, the penetration of traditional moral concepts into the customs and legends of Torch Festival is reflected in the intersection of female characters and the legends of Torch Festival. Both the early magpie girls and later Anan and Mrs. Charlie had the same fate. On the one hand, this legend reflects the dark reality of national oppression and class oppression and the political conspiracy within the ruling class, on the other hand, it is a legend of a heroic woman who has no more than two husbands, which is intended to show the virtue of chastity. From the magpie girl, An An to the charity lady, we all see the images of loyalty, martyrdom and martyrdom. People have closely linked the fate of these kind and brave female characters with the legend of Torch Festival, expressing the feelings and wishes of people who are "virtuous and despise lewdness" in a specific historical period. This legend should belong to later generations, just like Mr. You Guoen's conclusion after researching the legend of Anan: "If the Torch Festival started for charity, did it end at the turn of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties?" "Not in the Middle Ages, but in the later world." In short, from the formation and evolution of the legend of Torch Festival, we can see different levels of historical accumulation, which is synchronous with the long-term development of this festival in southwest China. The legend of Torch Festival has evolved in its long-term spread, even affecting festivals and customs in some areas, which makes the original ecological "sacrificial" Torch Festival attached with the derivative meaning of "commemorative festival". For example, Heqing legend attributed June 19, when women dyed impatiens nails, to charity. This may also be a case of legend triggering new customs, which is worth discussing.

Four theories on torch festival

It is said that the 25th day of June in the lunar calendar is the anniversary of human use of fire. The Bai, Yi, Pumi, Naxi and other ethnic minorities living in Yunnan have designated June 25th as the traditional Torch Festival. At that time, various activities will be held to celebrate and plant the "sun". On the day of Torch Festival, the Bai and Yi people in the western hills of Heqing held "sunbathing" activities. On that day, people lit a fire in the center of the "singing" field, and piles of dry wood were piled around the torch. A carefully selected dry flammable stump was planted in front of the torch as a symbol of the sun. As the sun sets, people who have already gathered at the meeting place each take a selected stick and go to the "sun" in turn to "drill" wood to make a fire. No matter who "drills" out of Mars, people will flock to "pick up" ignition seeds with grass wool and dry branches and leaves that have already been prepared. Try to move the fire to the woodpile and light it. Immediately, everyone lit a fire from the fire with a small torch and took it home to light the fire pool of each family, which was called "the sun". After sunset, people gathered in the "singing" field and lit the fire again on the bonfire burning during the day. Then, light torches and fire to "sing" and praise the fire for giving people happiness all night. Bai and Naxi people who live in the foothills of Wufeng Mountain adjacent to Heqing and Lijiang will hold fire fighting activities on the night of Torch Festival. People tied bundles of red flowers to all the big trees in the village, symbolizing that "red flowers burn like torches". When the first star appeared in the sky, people held small torches, sang and danced, and sang hymns around the "Honghua Huoshu". On the Torch Festival, Pumi people living in ninglang county will hold activities to worship Vulcan. According to legend, the Vulcan worshiped by Pumi people is called Anggumi, who was originally the female ancestor of Mosuo people. For the happiness of her offspring and Pumi people who live with her ethnic group, she sneaked into the Heavenly Palace and stole the fire, using her body as a torch to lead the fire to the world, so that Mosuo people and Pumi people could get the fire at the same time. In order not to forget the kindness of Anggumi from generation to generation, Pumi people set the day when Anggumi brought fire as a festival to worship Vulcan. In the early morning of the festival, people planted a big pine tree at their respective village entrances, symbolizing the embodiment of Anguomei. The tree is covered with small torches, and how many people there are in the village, the tree will be hung with small torches corresponding to the population. In the afternoon, after the "incarnation" was sacrificed with a sacrificial ceremony, 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 a pot dance around the "incarnation" and praised Leon Gu Mi's contribution to spreading the fire. After praising the "incarnation", everyone paired up in groups, held torches, danced and sang loudly in villages, fields and mountains. Pray for the blessing of Vulcan Ang Gu Mi, and bless the prosperity of people and animals in the village, abundant crops, peace in the village and all the best ... Huangping Township is a hot spot in Heqing County with rich products. According to legend, the residents here are descendants of Kong Ming and Meng Huo who left the army and came here. This fertile soil was cultivated when Kong Ming and Meng Huo formed an alliance. And on the night of June 24, burning the midnight oil, the seeds of five grains were sown for the first time, and the barren land became fertile land. To commemorate this day, future generations will light torches every day, burn the midnight oil and sow crops in Xiao Chun. At that time, old people and children were holding torches, singing and dancing around the fields, and young people were sowing seeds in the fields. Labor production and folk activities are integrated and have a unique flavor.

Torch festival protection

Festival culture can not only reflect a nation's cultural characteristics and artistic features, but also hold high a nation's spirit, activate the national memory of generation after generation, and inspire the vast number of folk heritage lovers to yearn for ancient culture and cherish national folk art. The Yi area is known as the hometown of fire. Yi people are good at singing and dancing, adhering to the tradition of music and dance and oral art handed down by their ancestors for thousands of years. Songs, legends and even epic performances formed in the custom of Torch Festival are also an important inheritance in the "oral and intangible cultural heritage of mankind". 1) Torch Festival Melody There are very rich torch festival melodies circulating in Yi areas. Although there are various forms, they all have a fixed torch melody. Due to the different pronunciations of Yi dialects, Yi people in Liangshan, large and small, call it "Du Ze Duo Luo Ho", which means to use fire for sacrifice, "Duo Luo" means to make a wish, and "Ho" is a song. The branch of Sunuo of the Yi nationality in Chuxiong, Yunnan Province is called "blossoming", which means offering sacrifices to Vulcan, and "er" means "playing". The Torch Festival of Yi people has always been the most grand, and has gradually evolved into a complete set of folk songs. The songs of the Torch Festival of the Yi people in Chuxiong include the songs of burning fire, sending fire, evoking spirits, Le Tong, antithesis of the Torch Festival, and sacrificial songs of the Torch Festival. The time, place and singer of singing these songs are different. For example, "Song of Burning Passion and Fire" means that the whole family sings around the "festival fire" under their own eaves under the leadership of their parents to celebrate; "Evocation of Soul" is sung by housewives alone, holding sacrifices (grain, salt, wine and meat), walking straight to their vegetable fields or grain fields, singing while walking, and picking a crop seedling when they come back, indicating that the souls of people, livestock and crops have been taken home together to celebrate the Torch Festival, and at the same time symbolizing welcoming Ding Qingji, the prosperity of six livestock and the bumper harvest of grains. "Torch Festival duet" is only sung by people in this village when they meet at the dam site near the village; The sacrificial song of Torch Festival consists of four parts: animal husbandry production, wine sacrifice, sacrifice and rice field sacrifice. This song was recited by the priest Bimo on the night of the Torch Festival, which reflected the primitive religious concept of Yi people, that is, to eliminate worship with fire and pray for happiness. The torch songs of the Yi people in Chuxiong are mostly traditional five-character rhyming sentences, with a relatively fixed lining at the end of the first sentence and filled with function words such as "Oh, Gang, Di Ligang" and "Gang, Oh, Come". Some songs have long blank words, such as solo, chorus, duet, harmony, etc., and generally do not need instrumental accompaniment. Most songs are pentatonic, followed by feather tones. In his tune-seeking songs, the phenomenon of interweaving tone and rhyme often appears. Most of them have evolved into ballads with the theme of middle and small songs and a few or more phrases, among which the rhythm of "×××××××××" is particularly prominent. Generally speaking, this kind of torch songs are open-minded, simple and powerful, and full of national characteristics. 2) Legend of Torch Festival (see above) 3) Inheritance of Torch Festival and Epic Tonggu King is a heroic epic of the Yi people, which is spread in Funing County, Yunnan Province, Napo County, Guangxi, and the residential area of Luoluo (also known as Luoluo), a branch of the Yi people on the Vietnam-China border. It has a long history, far-reaching influence and wide spread. Epic, also known as "Tonggu Song", is a lyric handed down from ancient times by local Yi religious priest Mola at the ceremonies related to sacrificial festivals such as "Qiao Nian Festival" (Torch Festival) and "Gong Tiao Festival". In the sacrificial ceremonies and related ritual activities of Luoluo Yi branch, offering sacrifices to bronze drums or using them as ritual vessels is an important cultural symbol of this branch. As a priest, Mora sang the sacred word "Song of the Bronze Drum" handed down from generation to generation in many festival sacrificial activities, which in itself constituted an oral language folk custom. The Palace Jumping Festival, whose main activity is to save the ancestors' golden bamboo in the war of sacrificing ancestors, is divided into "big jump" and "small jump". Generally, a "big jump" is held once every nine or twenty-seven years. It takes nine days to jump in Kuya. In addition to offering sacrifices and jumping happily on the Tiaogong Ping, all residents in a specific hill and village should jump. "Little Jump" is an annual court dance festival, which is held for four days before and after. The daily activity is to offer sacrifices to mountains, music gods, brocade gods (gods of bright future) and exorcists. It is also a court dance festival, and the sacrificial procedures of each stockade are different, but the whole activity is centered on Moura's sacrifice, which is a traditional grand event with singing "bronze drum songs" and dancing bronze drums as the main sacrificial contents and manifestations. "Qiao Nian Festival", that is, Torch Festival, is no longer popular in Yi areas of Guangxi. In the Luoluo branch of Funing, Yunnan, it is called the Torch Festival, which is a grand traditional festival of the Yi people. This is related to the bumper harvest of buckwheat, the main crop of Yi people in June of the lunar calendar. The chapter of the epic "Changing Drum" traces the origin of "Qiao Nian Festival": four Yi people who migrated to the border of Yunnan and Guangxi survived the plague and suffered from drought. At that time, Lamo Boxian of Yi nationality made a good plan to cultivate drought-tolerant buckwheat. He walked to Jiaotoe (present-day Myanmar) to borrow buckwheat seeds, and greedy and vicious Jiaotoe people did not change bronze drums. In desperation, Boxian, who was bound, had to give in and traded ten bronze drums for ten kinds of buckwheat seeds, making Yijia a safe place. In order to commemorate the kindness of buckwheat and drums, Yi people beat drums every June to celebrate the year of buckwheat (Torch Festival). The Yi people in Funing believe that the purpose of "Qiao Nian Festival" (Torch Festival) is to make the gods happy. Bronze drums can entertain and comfort the gods, let them give people a good year and protect people in the stockade from disease and death. In addition, in the Yi area of Guangxi, the song of bronze drum is sung the most and the most complete occasion is in the special ceremonies of "laying bronze drum", "offering bronze drum", "opening bronze drum" and "sealing bronze drum" and related festival activities during the annual festival. It can be seen that the formation of epic is closely related to the Luoluo Yi people playing bronze drums in specific sacrificial festivals. It can be said that most of the above festivals are developed from sacrificial ceremonies, and the epic "King of the Bronze Drum" is also developed from the sacrificial words of the priest Mora to the bronze drum. Sacrificial ceremonies and festivals derived from them are folk cultural fields in which epics are formed and passed down from generation to generation. Moura, a priest, is a singer, editor, organizer and disseminator of epic poems. His poems and historical roles are in harmony and unity in the sacrificial ceremony. Just as the Iliad and Ramayana can't be produced without Homer and leeches, so the generation and formation of Yi heroic epic can't be produced without this priest and singer.

Torch Festival Others

Han Torch Festival Nantong City, Jiangsu Province is the only place where the Han people hold the Torch Festival. On the solstice of winter every year, the local lean men will hold a torch made of rice stalks, pour oil on the front and back of the house, and circle around the field several times to pray for a good weather and a good harvest in the coming year. The Festival of Stars and the Torch Festival in the calendar also have a poetic name, called the Festival of Stars. In the Five Dynasties, Shu Yiming's book Yuxi Zhendan recorded that Nanzhao (ruler of Nanzhao) in the Tang Dynasty took December 16th as Chinese Valentine's Day, which was the day when he swam in the typhoon shelter and ordered Qing Dynasty to compose poems. In the Book of Rites, Moon Order and Winter Moon, the word "the return of the stars" is recorded: "It is the month, and the difference between the day and the month is worse than the discipline. The stars return to the sky, and the number will be exhausted. Years old, start again. " Kong explained: "It is said that 28 nights go with the sky. Although it turns every day, it is different in the morning and evening. As for this month, it is similar to last winter, so Yunxing died. " "Luquan County Records" states: "June 24th is the Torch Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day, which is used by Yi people to celebrate New Year's Eve, and the Jewish star returns to New Year's Eve. I want to drink for more than ten days, and the Han people will meet at the spring banquet. " Lu Ciyun also said that "June 24th is the year" in Tunxi County Records. Naxi people also say that "the Spring Festival is big in winter and the Torch Festival is big in summer". These records show that the Torch Festival is not only related to Chinese Valentine's Day in ancient China, but also related to the Spring Festival of ethnic minorities in ancient Yunnan. It is a very important festival in ancient times. In the above-mentioned Torch Festival and Chinese Valentine's Day's materials, Chinese Valentine's Day mentioned in Book of Rites Yuxi is in winter, not in summer. However, Luquan County Records and Tunxi County Records say that Chinese Valentine's Day and Torch Festival are both Chinese New Year festivals, and the time is one or two days from June 24th to 26th of the lunar calendar. How can there be two astrolabes whose time and season are completely opposite? Is Torch Festival a Spring Festival holiday? Finding the answers to these questions may also find the real source of the Torch Festival. There is a famous long poem "The Wind in July" in China's earliest poetry collection "The Book of Songs", which tells the story of farmers' production and life all year round. Among them, the words "month" and "day" make many people who read the Book of Songs break their brains. This poem is about farming for ten months (not twelve months) a year. I repeatedly talked about the four days of "Grade One", "Grade Two", "Grade Three" and "Grade Four", but I didn't talk about other days, which made it difficult for future generations to read. The reason is that the poem involves an ancient calendar, which is closely related to the ancient Chinese Valentine's Day (Torch Festival). The calendar used in ancient China is different from the Roman calendar (Gregorian calendar) and lunar calendar (lunar calendar) currently used. "July" is about farming activities within a year, which only involves ten months, because at that time, the time was recorded by the ancient calendar "fire calendar" of "ten months a year, thirty-six days in January and five days as Chinese New Year". Therefore, the farmer in the poem not only talks about all the farming done in ten months of the year, but also talks about the New Year's day. The fire in July was also called "fire", "getting angry", "quail fire" and "Chen Da" by the ancients. On the fifth night of the seven nights of the Black Dragon, there are three stars (Xin Su), which think that "Xin is in the middle of the sky" (Song Shi Tian Wenzhi III). In ancient times, when the year was recorded by the fire calendar, the June of "fire in the south" was the "year-end year-end" from the end of the old year to the beginning of the new year. Ten months a year, 36 days a month, and the remaining five days are Chinese New Year, just during the Torch Festival. It is precisely because the "fire" star returns in the middle of the year that it is called the Astral Return Festival. The historical traces of the "fire calendar" remain in familiar myths, legends and common sense such as "there are ten suns in the sky". This calendar was used until the Hou Yi era. "Huai Nan Zi Ben" records: "When Yao was arrested, he went out in ten days, burning grain and killing grass, and the people had no food ... Yao built this village ... and filmed it for ten days ... Everyone was happy, and Yao thought it was the son of heaven ..." We can explain this myth in this way: it actually talked about the calendar change of abolishing the "fire calendar". According to the legend related to Houyi, Chang 'e (the wife of Houyi in mythology) gave birth to twelve moons, marking the birth of the lunar calendar. Heavenly stems and earthly branches's chronology is actually the result of the critical absorption of the fire calendar by the lunar calendar-ten is the number of months in the fire calendar, and twelve is the number of months in the lunar calendar. The result of the pairing of ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches forms a chronology of sixty years. Emperor Yan and the eternal memory of fire worship. The fire calendar, or October calendar, is an ancient calendar used by many ancient ancestors in western, northern and northwestern China. Its origin can be traced back to Emperor Yan in the "Yanhuang" era. "Guan pian" said: "Emperor Yan drilled for fire". "Nineteen Years of Zuo Gong" said: "The family takes fire as the discipline (recording the year), so it is named after the fire master." "Zuo Zhuan's Nine Years of Mourning for the Duke" said: "For the fire Lord, Jiang's surname follows." "On the Training of Huainan Ziyun" said: "Emperor Yan died and became a stove". "The Corpse Whisperer" said: "A man looks up at the stars and down at five trees, thinking it is a fire." Biography of Historical Records of Huang San said: "Emperor Yan, Shennong. Jiang is also ... the head of a cow is longer than Jiang Shui because of his surname. " These records not only show that Emperor Yan invented fire (drilling fire), but also invented the fire calendar (the fire master named it after fire). He is the ancestor of all the tribal ancestors whose totems and surnames are sheep (Jiang surname), cattle (bull's head) and fire (fire Lord) (followed by Jiang surname), and still worships Vulcan (death is a stove). Therefore, there were two satellite festivals in ancient times, namely, the most positive season of "fire", one in summer and the other in winter; Among them, Chinese Valentine's Day in summer is the "Chinese New Year Festival" for all descendants of ancient Qiang (synonymous with ancient Qiang and Jiang) and descendants of ancient Qiang tribes who are closely related to them. The activities of this festival are related to the totem worship of cattle, sheep, fire and ancestors. In fact, many ethnic groups celebrating Torch Festival now are related to the ancient Qiang people. They are either direct descendants of the ancient Qiang people, descendants of ancient ancestors closely related to the ancient Qiang people, or a new nation formed by the merger of the ancient Qiang people with other ancient tribes. Because of their relationship with the ancient Qiang people, they all have a common ancestor, Emperor Yan, and they also have a common totem. At the same time, there is a * * * festival, which is the Torch Festival-the Ancient Seven Stars Festival. There are also festivals with the same theme-bullfighting, killing sheep, lighting lanterns and so on. There is only one essential content, that is, to commemorate one's ancient ancestor Yan Di, to worship one's ancient totem-cattle and sheep fire, and to recall one's ancient history-slash and burn. October is a year, January is 36 days, and there are 5 days to celebrate the New Year. It still exists in some ethnic groups (such as Yi people) who are descendants of the ancient Qiang people. The torch festival legends of various ethnic groups in Yunnan have their own characteristics. In fact, the legend of Torch Festival of Yi people is the sublation of the original cultural form by the new cultural form after the nomadism changed to farming. This legend retains the original information of the origin of the Torch Festival to the greatest extent, and is also the legend closest to the source of the Torch Festival. The proverbs of Naxi people about the legend of Torch Festival preserve important information about the origin of Torch Festival, which, together with the records in Yuxi Annals, Luquan Annals and Tunxi Annals, provide important clues for exploring the origin of Torch Festival. Although the legends about the Torch Festival in Dali and Kunming hide the origin of the Torch Festival, their "Chinese Valentine's Day" also reveals the origin of the Torch Festival and its profound culture. ■ The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, "Yi Torch Festival" (Liangshan, Sichuan, Chuxiong, Yunnan) was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative lists. The Origin and Development Trend of Torch Festival Liangshan Yi Language calls it "Du Ze", which means "offering fire". The original form of Torch Festival, in short, is the ancient fire worship. In today's mountain society, we can still see the belief and cultural core of this festival "offering fire" from the investigation of various folk customs. Inheritance of Torch Festival in Southwest Cultural District Torch Festival is not only a traditional festival of Yi people, but also a regional inheritance of folk culture of southwest ethnic minorities. It also has a long history in Naxi, Hani, Lisu, Lahu, Jino and other ethnic groups. On the one hand, the formation and development of these national torch festival customs are directly related to their local worship, folk beliefs and local religions, on the other hand, they are closely related to their historical origin, cultural inheritance and social communication, especially the Yi people. Due to the long-term diachronic development (in time dimension) and regional evolution (in space dimension), the folk cultural connotation of Torch Festival can not be a single form in the early days, but a compound form, which includes many activities of 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. The torch festival is filled with the folk spirit of "carnival". The Torch Festival of the Yi people in mountainous areas is the most complete and rich, which retains the historical track of the cultural evolution of human groups. Its theme has always been to praise the reproduction of human life and hope for the ideal of national life, so it has become an important angle to study the cultural history and ideological history of the Yi people. In other words, the Yi Torch Festival, as a grand traditional festival, permeates a kind of "carnival" folk spirit and conveys a simple life concept and attitude. Torch Festival and the Protection of Oral Tradition The Yi area is called the hometown of fire. Yi people are good at singing and dancing, adhering to the tradition of music and dance and oral art handed down by their ancestors for thousands of years. Songs, legends and even epic performances formed in the custom of Torch Festival are also an important inheritance in the "oral and intangible cultural heritage of mankind".