Torch Festival of Yi Minority
The Firebrand Festival is the grandest traditional festival of the Yi ethnic group and is prevalent in the Yi areas of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces. The Yi and other minorities such as the Naxi, Bai, Lahu and Jino celebrate this festival.
The festival takes place on June 24 of each lunar calendar year. Cattle and sheep are
slain to worship the ancestors. In some areas, people also worship the earth god. They invite each other to feasts and eat meat together. Prior to the festival, every family has to store up food in order to eat as much as they like during the festival.
The Firebrand Festival usually lasts three days. The 1st day is for family reunions, while the last two days are for wrestling, horse racing, bullfighting, and boating.
On the first day, people cut cooked meat into pieces to use for the worship of gods and ancestors. Afterwards, the offerings are used for the feast. As fire is believed to drive away ghosts and demons, they light torches that are used to light up houses and are kept burning for three nights. People in the village, excited, take the torches and walk around the village and the fields and it looks like one thousand fire dragons soaring. They add rosin to the torches while they walk.
On the second and third days, the festival picks up pace. Young men put on new clothes and wear head coverings decorated with a hero knot and women put on pleated skirts. They gather on the vast meadow and hold various traditional sport competitions. Young men wrestle, race horses, and have archery contests. Women sing, dance and play string instruments.
The Firebrand Festival is a good chance for young men and women to get to know each other and select their lovers. They play music and sing around the fires, enjoy dancing and singing all night, in order to find their lovers. The winners of the bullfight and the wrestling competitions often become the top choice for the young women at the festival. On the 4th day, the ashes from the torches will be cleaned up.
The Firebrand Festival is a symbol of the primitive fire adoration of the Yi ethnic group, and also the cultural carrier of the traditional music, dances, poetry, food, costumes, farming culture and religion of the Yi people.
Ⅰ. Bullfight
On the Firebrand Festival, the most animated is the scene of the bullring. The bullfight is not only a kind of entertainment, but also a good practice for the selection of bull for breeding. It is of great significance for the promotion of the agriculture and stockbreeding. The one, whose bull wins in the contest, will be considered the master hand of the stockbreeding and at the meantime, idol for girls.
Prior to the bullfight, every village will send their deputy and pull the selected strong bull to the bullring. The dressed up audience come to enjoy the sight. A person of prestige will announce the beginning of the contest. At this moment, it comes a deafening sound of beating the gongs and drums; trombone care calling together, the firecrackers sound earsplitting. Young men and girls in couple play the tri-string instrument around the bullring and perform festal dances.
In the animation of the jubilation, the contestants pull their big, strong and sharp-horned bulls to the bullfight for the inspection of the referee. At the order of the referee, the contestants release their bulls and let them have a fierce fight. The fierce bull cocks its horn and raises its hooves, charges at its opponent. They wrestle with horns until the rival is defeated. The winner will be awarded a ball-shaped prize hung on the pole erected on the border of the ground.
Ⅱ. Wrestling
Another important activity during the Firebrand Festival is wrestling. The contestants wear short pants only and are barebacked. They embrace to show their kindness. At the order of the referee, they start wrestling and fall over the rival. The one will lose the game if his shoulder touches the ground. The scene of the contest is spectacular. One place of the wrestling attracts crowds of viewers. The audience in festal costume surrounds to watch the contest with cheers. Young men carry their tri-string instruments and flutes; girls with embroidered bags. The music and dance put the contest in a great animation.
Ⅲ. Miss Beauty Game
The Miss Beauty game in the festival is a feature program. An elder of prestige will be the judge. At the beginning, the participating Yi girls stand in a circle: each one holding the handkerchief of the one in her front, singing elegant folk songs and walking in circles. In the meantime, young men form a large crowd around the girls, and behave in a generous way.
As a young man has found his beloved girl, he will hand up the judge the gift he has prepared and ask him to deliver the gift to the girl. The girl who gets maximum gifts will be elected as the Miss Beauty. When the Miss Beauty crowned girl leaves the ground with many gifts, her friends and relatives will crowd around her and express their greetings; the young men come to surround her to show their aspirations by playing yu-kin.
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