Ethnic Minorities

The Yi Torch Festival

By SHEN XIAONING

The Yi ethnic group has several offshoots, each with its own style of costume.

YUNNAN Province is home to 25 ethnic minorities, each with its own culture and conventions. There is consequently a diversity of folk festivals throughout the year. These exotic celebrations, together with the rich natural heritage of flora and fauna in the province, display a colorful Yunnan to the world. The Torch Festival, celebrated by the fire-worshipping Yi people, is one such joyful occasion.

The Yi people have for centuries lived in what is now Shilin Yi Autonomous County, 82 kilometers east of Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province. Their tribes include 27 kindred branches, including the Sani, Axi, Heiyi, Baiyi, Yiqing and Ayizi. The Sani is the largest, and the Sani folk epic, Ashima, known throughout China, has been translated into over 20 languages, including English, Russian and Japanese. After the founding of the People's Republic, this epic was adapted into a film that won top dance prize at the Spanish International Film Festival. Ashima, which means "girl as beautiful as gold," is the heroine of the epic. She epitomizes the finest qualities of the Yi people -- diligence, kindness, honesty, and a love of life. Ashima has become a name synonymous with beautiful, gentle Yi girls. Ahei is the hero of the epic, and is strong, warm-hearted, kind, clever, honest, and brave. Young Yi women often refer to their sweethearts as "Brother Ahei."

A tall, black turban and cloak are part of the Yi men's dress.

The Torch Festival falls on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month. On that day, the Yi people from Shilin County gather at the Stone Forest and participate in various activities, such as shopping in the open market fair, bull fighting, dancing, and a firework display. It is also a good opportunity for young men and women to meet their prospective spouses.

Men and women form rows of pairs facing each other on a patch of grass. The men play three-stringed instruments, as the women kick and clap to the tempo. Snack vendors take full advantage of the occasion to ply their trade, and pitch their booths under shady trees, where people take rest and some refreshment before carrying on with their day of pleasure.

This general convergence is a good chance for young men and women to find their "Ashima" or "Brother Ahei," and they consequently pay particular attention to their costume. The young women wear a stiff, triangular piece of material on either side of their headwear to attract the attention of young men, but no young man should ever touch this ornament, or he will be obliged to labor for three years at the girl's home. On getting married, the young women take these two triangles off and lay them flat on the top of their heads, to symbolize marital peace and happiness.

When a young man decides that a certain young woman is the one for him, he snatches away her embroidered belt when she is not looking. This practice can be traced back to the ancient Yi marriage custom, where the bridegroom pretends to kidnap his bride. If the young woman returns his feelings, she will allow him to court her. If not, she will put on another belt, and the man may keep the one he seized.

Soon after noon, a costume contest begins. A team from each of the 27 Yi kindred tribes displays the beauty of their costumes on stage. There is a huge diversity of men's and women's clothes among them, the headwear alone encompassing many varieties -- those in circular curves, cylindrical or cone-shaped, ornamented with flowers, or hung with embroidered balls, colorful ribbons, and fringes. Seated on the surrounding slopes the audience watches and cheers on their teams.

Young Yi women parade their beautiful outfits at the costume competition.

As night falls, the crowd gets bigger, and the climax to the Torch Festival draws near. When it is completely dark, the heaving activity on the open ground subsides, and the five-meter-tall platform venerating the shrine of the God of Fire, erected to the north of it, becomes visible, as the aroma of pine pervades the atmosphere.

Suddenly the ground is illuminated by light from its four corners, and the fire-worship ritual begins. Hundreds of women clad in blue shirts and trousers, and black aprons enter the ground in a square formation. They hold a fan-shaped black and white wooden drum in their left hand, and a drumstick in their right. They then move toward the center of the ground, beating their drums, and, in time to the rhythm leaping, squatting, and shouting, symbolizing the hard life and daily struggle of their ancestors before they learned to use fire.

The drum beat then stops, and the women kneel to face the east, from where emerges an army of men clad in black turbans and cloaks. Foremost are four men carrying a thick bamboo pole, on which stands a necromancer wearing a black gown, swaying, and shaking his long, loose hair. On either side are three men, each holding a large mask with a red face, yellow beard and exposed teeth -- images of the God of Fire.

The necromancer advances to the front of the shrine, and makes obeisance, and prays that the Yi be blessed with bounteous harvests in the coming year. He then raises his arm, and a ball of fire bursts out from the top of the shrine, turning it into a torch. As the crowd cheers, the young men shed their cloaks, and, bare-chested, converge on the site, where they cavort wildly, accompanied by the women who sing and beat their drums.

A streetside market doing brisk business during the Torch Festival.

Gradually and quietly, the women disappear, and having discarded their drums, reappear holding torches, which are simultaneously lit, illuminating the dark ground. As the crowd bursts into thunderous cheers, fireworks shoot into the sky from all around, and the torches and their bearers form lines that move rapidly across the ground like flying dragons.

As the performance draws to an end, bonfires all around the ground are lit, and spectators on the surrounding slopes pour down, form circles and dance around the bonfires. At this point, all those present on this sacred site, young or old, man or woman, local or visitor, become completely immersed in the happiness and joy of this festive atmosphere.