Yi people's dense branch festival

"Mizhi Festival" is a festival for Yi people to commemorate and reproduce the ancient social form in which their ancestors once lived in a unique way.

In each village, there is a tree named "Dense Branch Forest" in the ravine not far from the stockade, and a towering old tree named "Dragon Tree" is selected as the symbol of Dense Branch Forest. Dense branches and forests are sacred. It is forbidden to cut down trees and break branches, to graze and hunt in the forest, to prohibit women from entering the forest and to bury the dead in the forest.

Secret Festival is a purely male festival, and women are not allowed to participate. As early as before the ceremony, the clergy were selected by divination, and the whole activity of the "secret ceremony" was prepared and presided over by them.

The ceremony was held completely in the dense forest, the sky was bright, and all the clergy were in "Brother! Brother! " After entering the forest, they did their jobs and were busy preparing for the festival.

It is customary to spend three to seven days from the first rat day to the horse day in the winter month of the lunar calendar every year. For the rest of the day, we will either invite the mountain to hunt or go fishing in the river together, but we are not allowed to farm in the fields. Women can do needlework, make clothes or do housework, and are not allowed to do farm work in the fields. From the next day, young men and women can be invited to sing, dance and fall in love in the mountains. Seven days later, all the clergy went to the "Little Secret Branch" forest to hold a small-scale ritual activity, indicating that the annual Secret Branch Festival was over.