The Yi Baoluo People's "Buckwheat Festival" and "People, ghosts and gods" celebrate together
"Buckwheat Festival"-the mysterious white naked people entertain people, ghosts and gods. The "Buckwheat Festival" is a traditional festival of the Bailuo people of the Yi people in Chengzhai, Donggan Town, Malipo County. It is also called the "Celebrating the Buckwheat Year", that is, the first dragon day in the fourth month of the lunar calendar every year is the Buckwheat Festival. The Baoluo people regard the "Buckwheat Festival" as celebrating the New Year. It is a grand festival to honor ancestors and entertain ghosts, gods and people.
It is said that the "Buckwheat Festival" comes from an ancient folk story: According to legend, a long time ago, a fire broke out in the stockade where the ancestors of the Naoren people lived, and the entire stockade was burned to ashes. No houses, furniture, farm tools and food were spared. Just as the grieving naked man was at a loss, a man found a bowl upside down on the foundation of the ruins. When he opened it, he found that there were some buckwheat seeds under the bowl. The naked people were so pleasantly surprised that they thought that their ancestors had secretly blessed them and given them a bowl of lifesaving buckwheat seeds. The ancestors of the Luoren people picked up the buckwheat seeds and planted them on the ground. After the buckwheat buds were unearthed, they saw the wind grow wildly. By April and May, when the green and yellow were out of touch, it matured, allowing Luozhai to survive the famine. Therefore, in order to thank their ancestors and Buckwheat seeds for the life they brought to them, the naked people designated the first dragon day in April every year as the "Buckwheat Festival." This festival custom has been passed down from generation to generation.
Later, on this day, naked people celebrated the "Buckwheat Festival". The organizers went to the vegetable field to call the "Buckwheat Soul" home and sent it upstairs to invite the ancestors and the "Buckwheat Soul" to enjoy the joy of the festival together. At the same time, naked people in festive costumes, led by the village elders, all men, women and children, gathered under the dragon tree. Amid the beating of bronze drums and leather drums, men, women and children held hands and sang and danced. At the "Buckwheat Festival", naked people enthusiastically performed various dances such as lion dance, stick dance, erhu dance, skin drum dance, and unity dance.
Their dances are simple, rough and bold, and their movements are beautiful, harmonious and neat. Women and children in Luozhai, who are usually well-behaved, can enjoy the joy of the festival with men on the "Buckwheat Festival". Men waved powerful hands and beat huge and heavy bronze drums; girls beat cheerful drums, waved their hands and twisted their waists to dance beautifully; children chirped like swallows and jumped in the crowd; old people were busy chatting about family affairs and engaging in sacrifices. The festival carnival lasts all night long, day and night, for three consecutive days and nights. During the festival, heaven and earth have fun, and people, gods and ghosts celebrate together. Its ghost mask has a weird face shape, colors like African zebras, and is mostly dressed up by women.
