What is the symbol of the Yi Torch Festival?

Fire is a symbol of the Yi people's pursuit of light.

The totem worship of Yi people is fire, which symbolizes the same enthusiasm and endless life as fire. Torch Festival of Yi nationality is a totem worship ceremony.

There are different legends about the origin of Torch Festival. When it comes to the struggle between the gods and the land gods, people use torches to help the land gods destroy insects and defeat the gods. One is from Nanzhao unofficial history and Yunnan Department of Normal School. These two books contain: Pirog, the leader of Nanzhao, attempted to annex the other five imperial edicts and gathered them in Songming Building to burn them. Deng Ruo's wife advised her husband not to go, lest he be killed. Charity found her husband's body with shrewd wisdom and persistent love for her husband and buried it smoothly, so Yunnan people burned it with torches. The Sani people of the Yi nationality in Shilin regard the Torch Festival as a festival to commemorate the victory of the people's struggle with the devil. The Yi people in Wuding believe that after the Torch Festival, ears of grain will grow 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.

Torch Festival is the biggest traditional festival of Yi people. Every year, from June 24th to 27th of the lunar calendar, all villages of Yi people hold grand sacrificial activities, offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, ancestor worship, exorcising evil spirits, and praying for the prosperity of six animals and bumper harvests, which embodies the good wishes of Yi people to respect the laws of nature and pursue a happy life.

Torch Festival usually lasts for three days and nights. The first day is "everywhere", which means welcoming the fire. On this day, all villages will slaughter cattle, sheep and pigs, greet Vulcan with wine and meat, and offer sacrifices to ancestors. Women will also make buckwheat buns and Ciba noodles, and outsiders will go home to have a reunion dinner, drink homemade wine around the fireplace, eat tuorou and share joy and happiness. When night falls, people near the village will set up an altar at the location chosen by the old man, tap flint to light the flame in the traditional way, and Bimo (the priest) will read scriptures to offer sacrifices to the fire. Then, in every household, the family elders took out the torches made of Artemisia sticks from the fire pit, and let the descendants take the torches from the elders, first illuminating every corner of the house, then coming to the fields and corners to drive away diseases and disasters with fire. Finally, they gathered on the hillside, played with torches, sang and danced, and played various games.

The second day of Torch Festival is "Du Ge", which means praising and praising fire, and it is the climax of Torch Festival. At dawn, men, women and children put on holiday costumes, bring cooked meat and buckwheat buns, and gather under the sacred fire of the altar to participate in various traditional festival activities. Thousands of people get together to organize horse racing, wrestling, singing, beauty contests, pole climbing, shooting, bullfighting, sheep beating, chicken fighting and other activities. The girls in beautiful clothes danced "Doloho". On this day, the most important activity is the beauty contest of Yi family. Older people should choose beautiful men according to the legendary hard-working, brave and handsome Laba image. Choose a beautiful woman who is kind, smart, beautiful and generous like Zhang Ni A Zhi. When night comes, thousands of torches form a series of fire dragons, which flock to the same place from all directions, and finally form countless bonfires, burning the sky red. People danced and sang around the bonfire until late at night. The scene is grand and jubilant, so it enjoys the reputation of "Oriental Carnival". When the bonfire was about to go out, couples of young men and women quietly walked into the hillside, into the trees, and under the yellow oil umbrella, they played Qin Yue and played the strings, telling each other about the suffering of lovesickness. Therefore, some people call the Yi Torch Festival "Valentine's Day in the East".

On the third day of Torch Festival, the Yi people call it "Doha" or "Dusha", which means to send fire. The whole Yi Torch Festival ends here. As night falls, after dinner, families light torches and hold torches, walk to the appointed place, get together, set up a fire altar, hold a ceremony to send fire, read scriptures, pray for Vulcan, pray for ancestors and bodhisattvas, give their children health and happiness, and give them the joy of a bumper harvest on earth. People held torches and sang greetings, "Burn plague, hunger and disease, and have a happy harvest year", praying for the safety of their homes and the prosperity of six animals. At this time, the chicken wings and chicken feathers slaughtered on the first day will be burned together, and evil spirits and plague gods will also be burned. Then find a bigger stone and put the lighted torches and chicken feathers under it, which means to suppress the devil, keep the family prosperous, harvest crops, and fatten cattle and sheep. Finally, the village on the mountain and the village's Youlong-shaped torches gather together and burn into a big bonfire to show that people are United to resist natural disasters.