Torch Festival of Bai Ethnic Group

Bai ethnic group of Zhangjiajie has lived in Wuling mountain area since Yuan Dynasty. They not only preserve their unique culture and customs, but also absorb advanced production technology and social culture from the Han people.

Release time : 2016-10-10 11:16:34

source : WTCF

(Image source: www.travelzjj.com)

Event time: June25thinthe Chinese lunar calendar

Event introduction: the Bai ethnic group of Zhangjiajie has lived in Wuling mountain area since Yuan Dynasty. They not only preserve their unique culture and customs, but also absorb advanced production technology and social culture from the Han people. The Torch Festival has gained the most popularity among the Bai ethnic group. At dusk on the 25th day of the 6th lunar month, the Bai people put many torches together and jump over them repeatedly. They pray in this way to the god of Fire to eliminate all the pests hazardous to the farmland and to chase away all evil. The Bai people reside in Zhangjiajie celebrate their Torch Festival in lunar June 25. As evening came, the Bai people light many torches at home and take them to a same outdoor space. They make a big bonfire with the torches there and step over the fire again and again. The activities in torch festival are rich and colorful, including worshiping ancestors, worshiping fire, lighting torch, playing torch, and jumping the torch.

A few days before the festival, people are busy preparing. The young men go to the mountain to cut torchwood, and then the families prepare firewood, straw to make the torch. The torches have different sizes, specifications, and are of many uses. The small torch is for people to walk around; the medium size is for erected in front of the door or in the courtyard; the big one is for erected in the village. The big torch is tall and majestic, about 10 to 20 meters high, made with pine tree and straw. Generally there will a flag on the top of the torch, with three paper strips beneath it, known as "the rise of three levels ".

Paper flags are attached to four corners of each paper strip, meaning fortune, good weather, health and good harvest. Beneath them are the torch pears, crabapples, fireworks, lanterns and small colorful flags.

At the noon of the torch festival, people bring small