The origin of torch festival

Torch Festival is a traditional festival of Yi, Bai, Naxi, Lahu, Hani and Pumi. The following is a collection of the origin of Torch Festival. Welcome to read!

On the Origin of Torch Festival 1 Torch Festival is a unique traditional festival of Yi people, which has been followed by 1000 years since Han and Tang Dynasties. Torch Festival is usually held on the 24th of the lunar calendar every year and lasts for three days. There are dozens of records and legends about the origin of Torch Festival, which are rich in content and beautiful. A more common saying is:

1. According to legend, Entiguzi (the god in Yi mythology) sent his minions to the mortal world to kill all living beings and crops. People, led by Zhige Aru, a hero in Yi mythology, were fearless and burned pests with torches on June 24th of the lunar calendar, defeating God. Therefore, the Yi people designated this day as Torch Festival, which was handed down from generation to generation.

Secondly, this book compiled the Xichang County Records, which contains: ... Deng Geng's letters, one of the six letters in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. Nanzhao wants to merge five imperial edicts. Because of Qixi, they are told to drink in Songming Building. Deng Geng's wife is charitable, but she is afraid that her husband won't do it or listen, so she makes an appointment with her husband with a shovel and says goodbye. Compared with Nanzhao, the building caught fire, and the whereabouts of the husband's remains were unknown in all imperial edicts, and only charity returned the remains. Nanzhao welfare is different, and it is paid. It is good to say that my husband is not buried, but buried in Sakura City. Nanzhao was surrounded by soldiers, and in March, he was exhausted. It's a good thing to wait and die on an empty stomach, but Nanzhao found regret. Its city is called An Deyu. Today's Yunnan custom is June 24th, which is looser than every household. It was burned for a long time, and it was burned at night to pray for the New Year and apologize for the richness of the torch. Friends and relatives get together, cut livestock and drink, and barbarians meet Han Chinese. Just like Xichang County Records. The Records of Literature and Art (Zhi Zhu's Ci of Jianchang) contains: The prophet who went to the banquet could not return, and the smoke in the firewood house was still sad. Now the wahoo has become a custom, and the ice heart has turned to dust; Hui Xin has long gone, and it is difficult to return. Give him a golden cup to cover up his sorrow. People throughout the ages still light up festivals, swallow six imperial edicts and turn them into ashes.

3. In ancient times, a Hercules in the sky wrestled with a Hercules on the ground. The Hercules in the sky was defeated by the Hercules on the ground and fled to the sky in panic, making trouble in front of the gods, so the gods took it out on people indiscriminately and sent a large number of pests to the ground to destroy crops and endanger the people. People lit torches to drive away pests and defeated the gods. This day happened to be June 24th of the lunar calendar, which was decided by the Yi people.

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.

About the Origin of Torch Festival 2 The formation of the customs and legends of Torch Festival is related to the primitive worship of Yi people of the same ethnic origin, especially the belief in fire. In the Torch Festival of the Yi people in Southwest China, the folk functions of fumigating fields with fire, eliminating diseases and disasters, killing insects and protecting seedlings, urging seedlings to germinate, praying for a bumper harvest and inviting the light to welcome Fu Rui are still maintained. The folk psychology and belief concept in this period is to seek good luck 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.

There are many variations in the legend of Torch Festival. Although the sources are different, they are all similar. The text structure of the story follows the narrative procedure of 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 contradictions, 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. This kind of legend is a secondary torch festival custom legend with the theme of praising ancestors and heroes.

Later, 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. Both the early magpie girls and later Anan and Mrs. Chari had a common fate of "self-immolation". 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 and Anan to the charity lady, the images of loyalty, patriotism and patriotism, people closely linked the fate of these kind and brave female characters with the legend of Torch Festival, expressing people's feelings and wishes of "promoting goodness and restraining prostitution" in a specific historical period. This legend should belong to future generations.

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.

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