The Torch Festival Of Yi People

                           The Torch Festival  Of  Yi People

On the 24th of the sixth month of the lunar year,the yi people hold their annual Torchlight festival.At the time of festival,in the vast area extending from Guishan Mountain Ranges to the bank of the lancanngjiang River,the Yi people and other local people dresses in their best ,playing "lusheng'(reed-pipe) and  plucking the three-stringed lutes,gather on the the meadows of the mountainsides,assemble in the villagers on the shores.The festival  is noted for its multifarious activities such as playing dragons,wrestling,bull fighting,horse race,archery contest,seizing for fire crackers,climbing oiled poles.tug-of-war-play,etc.At nightfall,they make various torches by putting together on pine twigs and hemp stalks they have collected.then they race over the fields and through the orchards,holding high the torches and letting off fire crackers,in an attempt to drive away pests and eliminate ermines as well as invoking bumper harvests ans assure of the tranquility of men and stock animals.

the Torch Festival of Yi people might have originated from the fire worship.the forms of celebrating it in different localities are manifold and the folk legends in this regard are numerous,Apart from the above-cited programmers,the festival as held in the Chuxiong yi Autonomous Prefecture has  the following additional activities.