The Origin and Legend of Dali Torch Festival

The origin of Dali Torch Festival originated from a legend in the Tang Dynasty.

According to legend, in the Tang Dynasty, Pelog, the leader of one of the six imperial edicts in Dali today (the Six Tribes Alliance), attempted to annex the other five imperial edicts. On June 24th, Pirog lured the imperial edict leader to the Songming Pagoda for drinking and then set fire to it. Bai Jie, the wife of Luodeng imperial edict in the north of Erhai Lake, had long seen through Pirog's ambition and advised her husband not to go, but Luodeng imperial edict had to go because of ancestor worship and the power of Nanzhao.

Mrs Bai Jie knew it was unlucky, so she put a shovel in her husband's hand. After the leaders of the five imperial edicts entered the Songming Building, Pirog tried to set fire to the Songming Building, and all the leaders of the five imperial edicts were buried in the sea of fire. Mrs. Bai Jie rode away, hoeing the ground on the ruins after the fire with her hands, and her fingers were bleeding. Finally, she recognized her husband's body according to the shovel. Seeing that Mrs. Bai Jie was beautiful and intelligent, Pirog forced her to be a concubine, and Mrs. Bai Jie pretended to agree.

But after going back to bury her husband, he led the people to fight bloody battles with soldiers in the besieged city, ran out of ammunition and threw himself into the sea. Later, in memory of Mrs. Bai Jie, the Bai people dyed their nails red with Jin Fenghua's roots on June 25th every year, and men erected high torches in the village to celebrate Mrs. Bai Jie's loyalty and unyielding.

Introduction of torch festival custom;

1, torch tune

There are a lot of torch songs in Yi area. Although there are various forms, there are fixed torch songs. Due to the different pronunciations of Yi dialects, Yi people in Liangshan, large and small, call it "Du Ze Duo Luo", which means to sacrifice fire, "Duo Luo" means to make a wish, and "Ho" is a song. The branch of Sunuo of the Yi nationality in Chuxiong, Yunnan Province is called "blossoming", which means offering sacrifices to Vulcan, and "er" means "playing". The Torch Festival of Yi people has always been the most grand, and has gradually evolved into a complete set of folk songs.

2. Torch Epic

The heroic epic of the Yi people, The King of the Bronze Drum, is spread in Funing County, Yunnan Province, Napo County, Guangxi Province and the residential area of Luoluo (also known as Luoluo), a branch of the Yi people on the Sino-Vietnamese border. It has a long history, far-reaching influence and wide spread. Epic, also known as "Tonggu Song", is a lyric handed down from ancient times by local Yi religious priest Mola at the ceremonies related to sacrificial festivals such as "Qiao Nian Festival" (Torch Festival) and "Gong Tiao Festival".