The Festival Customs of Liangshan Torch Festival

According to the traditional customs of the Yi people, the Torch Festival lasts for three days. On the first morning, people gathered by the river to kill pigs, cattle and sheep. At home, women are busy cooking buckwheat buns, grinding Ciba noodles and preparing cooked food for the next two days. There is also an important content on this day, that is, every household should kill a chicken, check the chicken tongue, chicken gall and chicken soup to predict the good or ill luck in the coming year, roast the chicken to worship the ancestors, and hope that the family will be safe and the livestock will flourish. The next day, people from four towns and eight departments, wearing holiday costumes, poured into the torch field surrounded by green hills from dozens or even hundreds of miles of huts in Fiona Fang. The activities of this day can be described as brilliant. Traditional events include bullfighting, horse racing, sheep fighting, wrestling, cockfighting, pole climbing, sheep catching, shooting, singing competitions, beauty contests, clothing competitions, eagle catching chickens, dancing "Dole Lotus", playing with fire handles and playing with fire.

The activity is full of original taste and local flavor. On the third day, continue the activities that were not completed the day before. The sun was shining red in the sky, he led the winning bull, Ayi held the unbeaten rooster, and the young man surrounded the "Torch Beauty" and Amiz to follow the wrestling hero back to the hut, lit the torch made of Artemisia sticks or thin bamboo, and held a sacred "fire-sending" ceremony. The climax of the Torch Festival is coming. Yi men, women and children hold high the torches in their hearts to celebrate the harvest, pray for peace and wish good luck.

Torch Festival is the "carnival" of Liangshan Yi people and the "Valentine's Day" of brothers and sisters. Yang Sheng 'an, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, was the first to praise the grand occasion of the Torch Festival carnival night, leaving a poem that has been sung for ages: "Clouds cover the red sun and just contain mountains, and the torch unexpectedly returns, and ten thousand lotus flowers open the sea, and the stars are in the world one day." Yi proverbs describe Torch Festival as: "Bitterness" (China New Year) is a festival for the mouth, and "Du Ze" (Torch Festival) is a festival for the eyes.

Butuo and Puge counties in Liangzhou are the centers of Liangshan Torch Festival, and they are known as the hometown of torches. In addition to the torch festival in the county, Butuo County also has Tuojue Town and Yimeng Town. There are Xiluo Town and Luojishan Town in Puge County, which is an excellent shooting place.