Torch Festival is an ancient and important traditional festival for Yi, Bai, Naxi, Jinuo and Lahu nationalities. It has a profound connotation of folk culture and enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad, 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.
The Torch Festival on June 24th of the lunar calendar is a traditional New Year of Yi people in Yunnan, China, and also a festival of Shilin, because the reputation of Shilin is as famous as Ashima, a branch of Yi people. On this day, tens of thousands of Yi men, women and children put on their sewn new clothes early in the morning and walked briskly to the Shilin grassland, singing and dancing in various festive programs until the bonfire party in the evening, which was very lively all day.
2. Torch Festival Nation
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.
3. 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 Five Miscellanies? "Qixi Test" also said: "The day of the festival is evening. Every household burns trees at the same time, and the room is full of seclusion, mumbling poor words to drive away the epidemic. 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 Jiajia, Shiping county annals? What about Tian? Volume 1 of "Year of the Gate" also said: "On June 25th, Zhu Tian was burned to the ground, which was a prosperous year. At first light, it is a disaster. Each young man lit a torch to decide whether the village would win or lose. "In addition to the literature, 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 are still maintained. The folk psychology and belief concept in this period is 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. Whether it is the early magpie girl or later Anan and Mrs. Charlie, most of them have 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. 4. Four Views on Torch Festival
1. Plant "Sun"
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 groups living in Yunnan have designated June 24th 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.
play with fire
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".
3. Sacrifice to Vulcans
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. ...
4. Dance and sing.
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.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) Legend of Torch Festival
As for the origin of the Torch Festival, it is said that a long time ago, the gods sent two Hercules to the world to look for jewelry, property and food. Relying on the authority of God and their own strength, these two Hercules tore down the houses of unwilling devotees and lifted the cattle and sheep to death.
The Yi people were miserable, so they elected Attila Ba, a hero with both wisdom and courage, as commander-in-chief to lead everyone against these two Hercules.
Attila knows that great power is infinite, so you can't fight hard, you can only outwit it. One day, he led a Hercules to the mountain and ran in Kuya for nine days. It was not until Hercules was too tired to stand on his feet that he led the people to throw him to death at the foot of the mountain. Another Hercules ran back to the big court with great anger and destruction.
God was furious and immediately took out a small box and threw it into the world. It turns out that this box is full of locusts. As soon as the box was opened, the locusts rushed to Liangshan. Smart Attila immediately made torches out of pine branches and arrow bamboo, and everyone rushed to follow suit. In an instant, flaming torches were lit everywhere in the mountains, deep valleys and flat dams, killing all the locusts.
People defeated God, saved crops and got a bumper harvest. It is said that this day is June 24 of the lunar calendar. Since then, the Yi people have spent three days lighting torches as a commemoration on this day every year, or since this day.
Legend of Liangshan Yi Torch Festival
King Shamet fought against aliens and his head was cut off. When the star appeared, the other head began to fight with him. Finally, because of the traitor's betrayal, after cutting off his head with a sharp knife and sweeping his neck, King Samui's head could no longer grow and would never be resurrected. It is said that the red dot on the sharp knife grass is dyed red by the blood of King Samui. Later, on June 24th and 25th every year, Samui people would light torches to commemorate King Samui and look for his spirit.
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.
The torch festival of Samei branch of Yi people.
Avanti, a good god, steals food from the sky, making the happy life on earth transcend the sky. The gods were furious and sent Hercules to vent their anger on earth. Agazzi hated Hercules for being overbearing, wrestled with him, threw Hercules to the ground, and made a hole. Later, the rain turned into a long blue lake (southern Shandong fresh water lake). In order to commemorate this human hero, people hold bullfighting, wrestling, slaughtering sheep, burning torches and other activities on June 24 of the lunar calendar to show their mourning.
Torch Festival of Sani people in Sani branch of Yi nationality.
Diao Na, the slave owner, put many poor brothers in prison. Poor Jane tied the torch to the horn and rushed to the distant mansion to burn the slave owner and the rope on the poor hand. To commemorate this victory, people marched with torches and followed the custom.
Torch Festival of Axi people in Axi branch of Yi nationality.
In the Yi family, there is a beautiful and capable girl who has been in love with the Yi young man Long for a long time. However, men from the nearby 12 tribe came to propose marriage one after another, and one of them said cruelly that if he didn't agree, he would bloodbath the cottage and make the whole village suffer. The girl was helpless and promised a blind date on June 24. The blind date came, and the girl put on a white dress, a short black coat, a flower apron on her chest and lit a fire. The head of the twelfth department has also arrived. The girl took a deep look at Aaron and then jumped into the fire. Aaron and several boys tried to catch her, but they just pulled off her skirt. People came from all directions, but she died of double suicide. In memory of her, 12 boys lifted Daniel up and pushed each other in order to knock him down and win. Then kill cattle, drink, sing and dance. Later, the Yi people designated June 24th as the Torch Festival, and the skirt that Aaron tore off became the waist of the Yi women, and the smoke that burned the girl became the morning fog of the cottage. It is said that in the early morning when magpies are singing, a girl can be seen faintly in the distance in Yi Shan, so people call her a magpie girl.
Magpie girl of Wu Luo branch of Yi nationality.
Old Apu, the son of God, was jealous of the happy life on earth, and sent an old God to the earth, asking him to burn the earth into a sea of fire. God will come to this world and see a man carrying a big child, but the child is leading him. He felt strange. After careful questioning, I realized that the child he was pregnant with was a nephew and the child he brought was a son. Because his elder sister-in-law is dead, this man thinks he should take good care of his nephew. God will be deeply moved by the virtue of human beings, thinking that people are so kind that they can't bear to hurt them, so he told that person that God burned the world and asked him to tell people to light torches at the door in advance on June 25 to avoid disaster. So thousands of families lit torches that night, and the gods thought that people had been buried in the fire, so they fell into a deep sleep and never woke up. Later, Naxi people designated this day as Torch Festival.
The legend of Naxi torch festival
There lived a good man and an evil man on the mountain. The wicked only eat human eyes. On June 24, the good man wrapped the goat horn with beeswax, lit the beeswax and told the goat to find the wicked. Seeing the sparks, the wicked thought that people would hit him with muskets, so they quickly hid in the hole and blocked the hole with stones. As a result, he was drowned by the water flowing out of the hole. From then on, people no longer worry that evil people will eat their eyes, so they can engage in production safely. Therefore, the Lahu people designated this day as the Torch Festival.
Legend of Torch Festival of Lahu Nationality
In addition, among the legends of the torch festival of the Bai and Yi nationalities, there are also the legends of the famous Anan (that is, Man Anan), the legend of his wife and the legend of his charitable wife. The plot of the story is generally consistent with the female legend of Man An 'an and the burning of Song Ming Pagoda, which is the result of the cross evolution of the legend of characters and the legend of Torch Festival.
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. "
Nanzhao King burned the Songming Pagoda, and the charitable wife was loyal to the country.
There were six tribes in Yunnan in the early Tang Dynasty, which were called "six imperial edicts". The southernmost tribe Meng Shezhao is also called Nanzhao. Nanzhao became more and more powerful. One day, Pelugo, the king of Nanzhao, invited five other leaders to get together. Mrs. Chariti, the wife of Deng Ruozhao, the tour leader, thought that Pelog had ulterior motives and tried to persuade her husband not to go. But the husband wouldn't listen. When she left, Mrs. Charity put an iron ring on her husband's arm with tears in her eyes to protect herself.
Since then, Pirog did burn down the Song Ming Building where the leaders gathered, and all the leaders of the five imperial edicts were spared. Facing the ashes of Song Minglou, Mrs Charity wept bitterly. She threw herself into the ashes and took out the iron ring worn by her husband before recognizing his body and taking it home. Later, Pilog heard about this clever and virtuous charity lady and wanted to marry her. However, how can this kind lady be willing to remarry? After burying her husband, she closed the city and followed her dead husband, leaving only this touching story.
After that, the Bai people in Yunnan celebrated the Torch Festival to commemorate the "Burning Song Ming Pagoda" and the historical story of the brave and clever charity lady.
-Guo Jiangjun killed her husband and bullied her wife, and Mrs Zhen Lie set herself on fire.
Guo Shizhong, deputy commander of the Han Dynasty, killed Sheikh Ma Nana in Dali, and found that the Sheikh's wife, An An, was very beautiful, so he wanted to marry her. Mrs. Anan pretended to agree, but put forward three conditions for paying homage to her dead husband. But when offering sacrifices to her husband, Anan set fire to the mourning hall and jumped into the blazing fire to set himself on fire. An An's loyalty and courage have won people's admiration and admiration. Since then, on the day of Anan's suicide every year, Bai compatriots will light torches and travel around villages to commemorate them.
Warriors wrestle and fight demons, while others set fire to worms.
According to legend, in ancient times, a demon named Stanley destroyed people's happy life on earth. After people found out, they came forward to ask questions. Ten vigorously asked someone to wrestle with him arrogantly, and also overturned a strong cow in a demonstration (the first thing on the Torch Festival was bullfighting). His provocative behavior angered a Yi hero named Bao Cong. He walked out of the crowd and wrestled with the top ten for three days and three nights, still tied. So people played three strings, played piccolo, clapped their hands and stamped their feet to cheer for Bao Cong, and finally defeated the top ten countries. The devil got angry and released locusts and other pests to spoil the crops that people worked so hard to grow. So people gathered again, lit torches to burn pests, and finally burned all the pests to death. This day happens to be June 24th. Later, in order to commemorate this victory, people slaughtered cattle and sheep every day and held various activities of the Torch Festival, which reflected the struggle spirit of the Yi people who were not afraid of violence and pursued a happy life.
Killing taxes angers the gods, burning torches to kill insects.
Long ago, heaven and earth were interlinked. One year, the god Stiguge sent Sigaby to collect taxes on earth. Due to the famine in the world, people couldn't afford the rent, so a strongman who could eat copper and iron, Rabbah of Russia, killed the tax collector Sylvia Abby. The gods were furious. The first flood tried to drown people on the ground, but the flood was defeated. The gods released all kinds of pests into the world to eat people's crops. Russian Rabbah and everyone gathered around the fireplace to discuss ways to control pests. Unexpectedly, a bug fell into the fireplace and was quickly burned to death. As a result, the Russian Laba organization set everyone on fire, finally defeated the pests and achieved a bumper harvest. Over time, the Yi Torch Festival was formed.
The gods are jealous of people falling into the fire, and the torches are confused to avoid catastrophe.
According to the legend of Naxi nationality, one day, Son of God Old Apu was playing by the canal when he suddenly heard the folk songs and dances of silk and bamboo. The happiness of human life made him very angry, so he sent a heavenly soldier to the earth and burned it into a sea of fire. This day will turn into an old man coming to the world and meeting a Naxi man carrying a big boy and holding a little boy. He asked inexplicably, only to know that the big boy was an orphan from another family and the little boy was the child of that person. So I was deeply moved and felt pity, and I couldn't bear to destroy the earth. He told people to prepare torches at home and light them all on June 25th. On this day, Zi Laopu went to the canal to check, and sure enough, he saw flames everywhere, thinking that the earth was really burning, and he didn't stop. Therefore, Naxi people escaped a bullet and the disaster of burning people. Since then, there has been a Torch Festival on June 25th every year.
Yi legend
Yi people in Mile County believe that Torch Festival originated from a slave riot. These slaves tied torches to their horns, rushed into the slave owners' homes, burned the slave owners and set them free.
Yi people in the suburbs of Kunming said that Samei Wang (a branch of Yi people) was beheaded while fighting the invaders, but at night, the stars came out and a new head grew on his neck, so he took people to fight again. Later, the secret of his head regeneration was revealed by his wife, and his head could never grow again. On the day he was killed, the Yi people lit torches and looked for his soul everywhere. Every year, they become a festival.
The legend in Nandong Yi Autonomous County is that there is a demon who likes to eat people's eyes. Guanyin Bodhisattva subdued him with snail meat, locked him in a cave and gave him only one day to get out of the hole. People were afraid that he would continue to do evil, so they lit torches on this day to make noise and make him afraid to go out of the hole.
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.
6. torch festival 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 tunes
There are a lot of torch songs in Yi area. Although there are various forms, there are fixed torch songs. Due to the different pronunciations of Yi dialects, Yi people in Liangshan, large and small, call it "Du Ze Duo Luo", which means to sacrifice fire, "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.
Among the songs of the Yi people in Chuxiong, there are songs of burning fire, sending fire, evoking spirits, Le Tong, antithesis of torch festival, torch festival sacrifice and so on. 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 its songs with high requirements for timbre, there is often a phenomenon that timbre and rhyme are intertwined. Most of them have evolved into middle and small songs and a few narrative songs with the theme of the above and below phrases, using two or three beats, especially "XX? XXX "rhythm, generally speaking, this kind of torch songs are open-minded, simple, vigorous and full of national characteristics.
2) Torch Festival and Epic Inheritance
The heroic epic of the Yi people, The King of the Bronze Drum, is spread in Funing County, Yunnan Province, Napo County, Guangxi Province and the residential area of Luoluo (also known as Luoluo), a branch of the Yi people on the Sino-Vietnamese 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 ceremony 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 constitutes 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 epic "Changing Drum" traces the origin of "Qiao Nian Festival";
After escaping the plague, the Siyi people who migrated to the border of Yunnan and Guangxi also suffered from famine caused by drought. At that time, Moraboxian 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.
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.