When is the Torch Festival in Dali?

When is Dali Torch Festival? Dali Torch Festival is usually in June. Torch Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day, is an ancient traditional festival of ethnic minorities, mostly on June 24th of the lunar calendar. Torch Festival has a great influence on ethnic minorities in southwest China. Its origin is an important part of the study of ethnic history in Southwest China, but few people have studied it.

Local scholars lack enough research power to invest in it, and the cultural extinction policy of Mu Ying in Dali in the Ming Dynasty makes the research very difficult. The story of "burning down the Songming Pagoda" is widely circulated among the people. According to legend, in the Tang Dynasty, Pelog, one of the six imperial edicts in Dali, attempted to annex the other five swamps. On June 24th, Pirog lured the imperial edict leader to the Songming Pagoda to drink and set it on fire. Mrs. Bai Jie, who was summoned by Roden, had already seen through Pirog's ambition and advised her husband not to go, but she had to go because of ancestor worship and the power of Nanzhao. Mrs. Bojeff knew it was unlucky, so she put a shovel in her husband's hand and recognized her husband's body accordingly. King Nanzhao saw that his wife was beautiful and clever, so he forced her to be a concubine. Mrs. Bojeff pretended to promise, but when she went back to bury her husband, she led her people to fight bloody battles with the besieged Nanzhao soldiers. On June 25th, after running out of ammunition, she threw herself into the sea.

In fact, we can gain some meaningful knowledge by analyzing the historical characteristics of the nations where the torch festival custom is popular. Torch Festival is popular among the ethnic minorities in northern Yunnan, that is, the border Qiang ethnic group, including Bai, Yi, Naxi and Pumi ethnic groups. It is generally believed that the frontier ethnic groups come from the cold and dry Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Fire is more important to the survival of these ethnic groups. For thousands of years, fire and torch have been very important elements in national life. It is almost natural that the high-end value judgment and spiritual belief of fire are born from this. On the other hand, in tropical southern Yunnan, such as the Dai people, the importance of water to them is self-evident, so the Dai people have a water-splashing festival.

The climax of Torch Festival is playing with the torch. Young men and women each hold a torch. When I saw someone, I grabbed a handful of rosin powder from my bag and sprinkled it on the torch. Every time you sprinkle a handful, it will give off a dazzling fire, give off a bang, and the flame will burn to the other side. This is called "cheers". Bai people think that fire refers to bad luck that can be burned, so they compete to play and enjoy themselves. After the excitement, young people will rush to the field with small torches, sprinkle rosin powder on the torches and shine wheat ears on the grains, which means eliminating pests and diseases and ensuring a bumper harvest. In the industrial age, chemical fiber fabrics became popular. Chemical fiber fabrics are not heat-resistant, and it is very miserable to meet the torch festival.