Who knows the Torch Festival of all ethnic groups in China?

Torch Festival was called "Star Return Festival" in ancient times, and there was a saying that "Stars return to the sky on New Year's Eve". There are different legends about the origin of the Torch Festival: First, the gods fought against the land gods, and people used torches to help the land gods kill insects and defeat them; One is from Nanzhao unofficial history and Yunnan Department of Normal School. In these two books, Pelog, the leader of Nanzhao, tried to annex five other imperial edicts and will be burned to death in Songming Building. Deng Ruo's wife advised her husband not to go, but his husband was not killed. Charity closed the city and died, and Yunnan people burned it with torches.

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Torch Festival is a traditional festival of Yi, Bai, Naxi, Lahu, Hani and Pumi. Yi, Naxi and Jinuo nationalities are on June 24th, Bai on June 25th and Lahu on June 20th. This festival lasts for two or three days.

Yi people think that the ears of grain that grow after 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 is also a grand festival for Bai people. Every year on June 25th in the summer calendar, the Bai people hold activities to wish people and animals a bumper harvest and prosperity. That night, a torch was erected in front of every house. There are red and green paper flags on the public torches at the entrance of the village, and some auspicious sentences are written. The villagers held torches high and marched in the fields for a week to catch pests. In addition, there are a series of literary and artistic activities, such as "going around three souls", "playing in the sea", boating and releasing animals.

On June 24th of the lunar calendar every year, in Xichang, the famous space city and the "moon city", Yi compatriots living there should put on festive costumes, sing and dance, hold a huge beauty pageant and costume-playing, horse racing, wrestling and archery competitions, and light torches to March in the wilderness at night to commemorate their heroes.

Torch Festival is a unique traditional festival of Yi people, which has been followed for more than 1000 years since Han and Tang Dynasties. Torch Festival is usually held on the 24th of the lunar calendar every year and lasts for three days. There are dozens of records and legends about the origin of Torch Festival, which are rich in content and beautiful. A more common saying is:

1. According to legend, Entiguzi (the god in Yi mythology) sent his minions to the mortal world to kill all living beings and crops. People, led by Zhige Aru, a hero in Yi mythology, were fearless and burned pests with torches on June 24th of the lunar calendar, defeating God. Therefore, the Yi people designated this day as Torch Festival, which was handed down from generation to generation.

Secondly, this book compiled the Xichang County Records, which contains: ... Deng Geng's letters, one of the six letters in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. Nanzhao wants to merge five imperial edicts. Because of Qixi, they are told to drink in Songming Building. Deng Geng's wife is charitable, but she is afraid that her husband won't do it or listen, so she makes an appointment with her husband with a shovel and says goodbye. Compared with Nanzhao, the building caught fire, and the whereabouts of the husband's remains were unknown in all imperial edicts, and only charity returned the remains. Nanzhao welfare is different, and it is paid. It is good to say that my husband is not buried, but buried in Sakura City. Nanzhao was surrounded by soldiers, and in March, he was exhausted. It's a good thing to wait and die on an empty stomach, but Nanzhao found regret. Its city is called An Deyu. Today's Yunnan custom is June 24th, which is looser than every household. It was burned for a long time, and it was burned at night to pray for the New Year and apologize for the richness of the torch. Friends and relatives get together, cut livestock and drink, and barbarians meet Han Chinese. Just like Xichang County Records. The Records of Literature and Art (Zhi Zhu's Ci of Jianchang) contains: The prophet who went to the banquet could not return, and the smoke in the firewood house was still sad. Now the wahoo has become a custom, and the ice heart has turned to dust; Hui Xin has long gone, and it is difficult to return. Give him a golden cup to cover up his sorrow. People throughout the ages still light up festivals, swallow six imperial edicts and turn them into ashes.

3. In ancient times, a Hercules in the sky wrestled with a Hercules on the ground. The Hercules in the sky was defeated by the Hercules on the ground and fled to the sky in panic, making trouble in front of the gods, so the gods took it out on people indiscriminately and sent a large number of pests to the ground to destroy crops and endanger the people. People lit torches to drive away pests and defeated the gods. This day happened to be June 24th of the lunar calendar, which was decided by the Yi people.

Torch Festival is the biggest traditional festival of Yi people in Liangshan, Sichuan. At that time, every family drank, ate tuotuo meat and killed animals to worship their ancestors. People put on new clothes and carry out cultural and sports activities with national characteristics. Men take part in bullfighting, herding sheep, raising chickens, horse racing and wrestling. Women sing, play strings and play Qin Yue. Swim the flashlight around the house at night; On the third night, they traveled around Shan Ye in groups with torches, and then they gathered in one place to light bonfires, burn torches, drink, sing and dance until the end of the morning.

On the Origin of Torch Festival

Shanzhai torch festival night

The annual national festival Torch Festival has arrived again. There have been different opinions about the origin of this festival for thousands of years. There is a new view: this festival comes from the ancient calendar and is related to Emperor Yan-

A confusing legend

Yi, Bai, Wa, Naxi, Pumi, Hani and other ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province all have a festival-Torch Festival.

There are many different opinions about the origin of Torch Festival. The legend of the origin of the Yi Torch Festival in Ninglang Yi Autonomous County of Lijiang City is that on June 24th of the lunar calendar, the Hercules in the sky met and wrestled with the Hercules on the ground. As a result, the Hercules in the sky fell to his death, and the gods were furious and sent locusts down to collect debts. The locusts ate up the plants on the ground, and people burned them with torches, but there were more and more locusts, and they had to reach an agreement with the gods. Every year on the 24th day of June in the lunar calendar, human beings compensate the gods with cows, sheep, chickens, eggs and water. The sun shines during the day and the torch shines at night. Since then, the Torch Festival has been handed down (New Lijiang Scenery).

The legend of the origin of Lijiang Naxi Torch Festival is that the Jade Emperor was dissatisfied with the fact that the world was better than the sky and sent Vulcan to burn the world. Vulcan came to the world and saw a white-haired old man carrying a big child and holding a child. God asked him why he didn't take his brother. The old man said that the older one belonged to his brother's family, and the elder sister-in-law was dead. I should love my brother's only son more. Vulcan was moved and went back to lie to the jade emperor that it had been burned. Later, the jade emperor wanted to see the charred world, but found it more beautiful. He killed Vulcan, but Vulcan's heart to save the human world is not dead. A drop of painstaking efforts jumped out of Tianmen and landed in a temple at the foot of the snow-capped mountain, wrapped in red cloth by a monk. On the evening of the 25th day of June in the lunar calendar, the blood drops turned into little dolls to tell everyone that the Jade Emperor was going to set fire. Only by lighting torches in front of each house for three consecutive nights can he fool the jade emperor. So people lit torches and fooled the Jade Emperor. In order to commemorate Vulcan and guard against the Jade Emperor, people light a fire every year. (New Lijiang Scenery).

In Dali, there is a legend about Princess Anan: "Yu Ye (now Dali) married Anan, the wife of Chief Ma Nana. That was killed by a general in the Han Dynasty, and she wanted her wife to travel south. She can promise you three things: first, make a curtain to sacrifice her dead husband; Burn her husband's clothes and put on new clothes; Let everyone know that I got married with ceremony. Loyal as he said. Tomorrow people will get together, and Zhang Song will set fire to her husband. When the Nanzang Dao comes out, once it is blazing, it will burn her husband's clothes, that is, it will lead the knife to break his neck and fall into the fire. On June 25, the people of China mourned it and hung it with a Japanese torch every year, called the Chinese Valentine's Day. "

Kunming, Dali, and the legend of the charity lady and the burning of the Song and Ming Pagoda in the Tang Dynasty.

Torch Festival of all ethnic groups has the same festival name and the same festival time. Behind these different legends, the Torch Festival should have the same or similar origin.

Torch Festival: "Living Fossil" of Ancient Calendar

Torch Festival also has a poetic name called Chinese Valentine's Day. 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, the Moon Order and the Winter Moon, the word "the star returns" is recorded: "It is the moon, the day difference, the moon difference, the star returns to the sky, and the number will end. 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.

Torch Festival: The Eternal Memory of Emperor Yan and 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, Emperor Yan, to worship one's ancient totem, the fire of cattle and sheep, 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.

Four theories on torch festival

According to legend, the 24th June of 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 24th as the traditional Torch Festival, and various activities will be held to celebrate it. Plant a "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, dressed in white.

On the burning bonfire, the fire was ignited again. Then, light torches and fire to "sing" and praise the fire for giving people a happy night.

It's dangerous to do so

On the night of the Torch Festival, Bai and Naxi people who live in the foothills of Wufeng Mountain adjacent to Heqing and Lijiang will hold activities to play with fire. 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".

Sacrifice to the Vulcan people

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 and Gu Mi, and bless the prosperity of people and animals in the village, the bumper harvest of grain, the 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.