Customs of the White People's Torch Festival

The Torch Festival is a traditional festival of the Bai people. On the day of the festival, men, women and children gather to worship their ancestors. Through worshiping torches, lighting torches, playing torches, jumping torches and other activities, they wish for a good harvest and prosperity of six animals. The festival is prepared during the daytime of the day and starts to launch after the sun sets. The main contents are as follows: On the eve of the festival, the whole village erects a big torch about one to twenty meters high. The torch is made from pine trees cut down from the mountains. The cost is borne by the family that gave birth to the child that year. The pine tree is used as a pole, on which straw and pine branches are bundled, and a flag is placed at the top. The flagpole is connected with a bamboo pole to three gabion-shaped buckets, which means "rising three times in a row". Around each bucket inserted with the country peace and prosperity, the wind and rain, life expectancy, the five grains, six animals and other words and paintings of small paper flags; bucket hanging below the torch pear, begonia fruit, firecrackers, lamps and colorful flags.

At noon on the Torch Festival, people bring small torches, paper money, incense and candles, and offerings, and go to their ancestors' graves to sweep and pay homage. Small

Torch lighted, sprinkled three pine incense smoke tomb, such as the torch burned to the handle bar before going home. If the cemetery is far from home, the festival is held at home.

Before the sun sets, families finish dinner in advance and go out to watch the torches and horse racing with their children and elders. There are adults and children who run the horses. After three laps around the torch, you can gallop into the distance. If you don't run the horse, you can go from house to house to admire the torches in front of each house and see whose torches are exquisite and beautiful. Before the village's torches are lit, young daughters-in-law carry umbrellas and newborn babies on their backs to make three laps under the torches to show that they have been blessed by the evil spirits. At the end of the festival, everyone says goodbye to each other and leaves. At the same time to the end of the torch under the pick up charcoal back to the outside of the house to ward off evil spirits.