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| Home » Yunnan Travel Guide »
Chuxiong Yi
» Torch Festival
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Many ethnic groups in Yunnan celebrate Torch Festival, such as Yi, Bai, Naxi, Hani, Lisu, Lahu and Pumi to name just a few. However, the Yi Torch Festival is the most well-known, the biggest in size and attracts the most participants. It is the most important festival of the Yi people.
In ancient times, the Torch Festival was called “Xinghui(return of the stars) Festival”, which has a great variety in its origin. To Yi people, their torches are intended to kill harmful insects and ensure the harvest; to e Sani, a sub-group of the Yi, they observe the Torch Festival in honor of a Sani hero who killed an evil demon.
The Torch Festival occurs on the 24th and 25th of the six month of the Lunar calendar(approximately July 8th-9th), when the Yi would put on their holiday best to the main festival site, taking with them their moon-shaped four-stringed plucked instrument, three-stringed guitar and lusheng. Usually, people watch wrestling and bull fighting performances in the day time, the Yi in Wuding County and Luquan County enjoy more such activities as archery, horse-racing, swinging and so on. When it grows dark, everyone lights their previously-prepared torch, 2-meter in length and 20-30 cm in diameter. People gather at the entrance or the playground of the village before they run through forests and their field, expressing their wish to drive away insects and evil, and to pray for a bumper harvest.
The Yi has a custom of putting their torches together to make a bonfire. Their bonfire party usually lasts till the next morning, young Yi men blowing flutes, plucking moon-shaped instruments and three-stringed guitars while dancing, young women dancing to the rhythm, clapping their hands.
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| Autonomous prefecture |
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Chuxiong Yi, Dali, Dehong,
Deqen, Honghe, Yuxi,
Nujiang Lisu,
Wenshan Zhuang, Xishuangbanna |
| Prefecture level cities |
| Baoshan, Kunming, Lijiang, Lincang , Qujing ,
Simao,
Zhaotong |
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