What are the customs of the Lisu traditional festivals?

The Lisu people have many traditional festivals throughout the year. Some of these Lisu festivals are the same as those of the Han people. They are obviously influenced by Han culture. Many of them are the Lisu people's own festivals. Most of these Lisu festivals are directly related to their living environment, customs and habits.

The Lisu Bathhouse Song Competition is also known as the Hot Spring Song Competition or the Tangquan Song Competition is a traditional festival of the Lisu people in the Nujiang area of Yunnan Province. It is held every year after the third day of the first lunar month. The concert usually takes more than ten days. During the song competition, the Lisu men and women were divided into two groups and then formed a circle. The woman held hands and the man held hands, with her hands on her shoulders and her feet moving regularly according to the beat and constantly changing positions. Each circle is led by a male and female singer who competes in the competition and harmonizes the others. Most of the lyrics are improvised and colorful. In the Liuku area, the Lisu folk song festival has the theme of "Tangquan Love Song", a long lyrical poem telling the love story of a young man and a young man who met three times by a hot spring.

As night fell, people lit bonfires and sang songs while tasting the wine and delicious food they brought. The bathhouse competition is said to have a history of more than 100 years. It is said that long ago, there were two beautiful Lisu girls in the Dengge area that attracted many young men and women to sing to their heart's content. Their songs were so beautiful that even the fairies were unwilling to leave. However, a demon went to tell the gods that singing disturbed the peace of heaven and earth, so the gods turned them into gold and silver respectively. However, the two girls did not give in and grew countless tall and straight pines and cypresses, which seemed to pierce the sky.

The gods were furious and nailed seven large iron nails to cover seven large iron pots on the two mountains. Soon two streams of hot blood flowed out from the foot of the two mountains and turned into steaming hot spring water. In memory of the rebellious spirit of these two beautiful girls, people come to the hot spring every year to praise them with beautiful songs. This gradually evolved into an annual hot spring song festival. The festival period is also an excellent time for Lisu young men and women to talk about love.

Lisu Raga Festival A traditional festival of the Lisu people in Longchuan, Yingjiang and other places in Yunnan Province is held every year from the fifth to the sixth day of the first lunar month. The content is mainly singing and dancing. On the eve of the festival, the Lisu people will renovate the dancing ground. Green pine branches and colored paper decorate the dancing field with colorful colors. At the beginning of the festival, Lisu people gathered together from all directions with joy and dressed in beautiful festive costumes to dance and sing to each other. Every Lako Festival, local Han, Jingpo, Lahu and other ethnic groups also come to participate in the festival. During the day, people happily hold recreational activities such as shooting crossbows, climbing poles, swinging and walking on stilts. At night, they gather together on the dancing field to sing and dance to their heart's content, often all night long.

Lisu Knife Bar Festival is a traditional festival of the Lisu people in Bijiang, Fugong and Hushui areas of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. It is held on the eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar. The festival originated from a Lisu legend. It is said that during the Ming Dynasty, the enemy invaded the Yunnan border, Wang Ji, the minister of the Ministry of War, was ordered to conquer Luzhou three times. The local Lisu people bravely picked up spears and crossbows to assist the officers and soldiers in defeating the enemy and consolidating the border. Unfortunately, Wang Ji was killed by a traitor on his way back to the court. This day happens to be the eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar. In memory of this Lisu hero and the Lisu warrior who died in the battle. People hold the "Knife Bar Festival" on this day every year.

Going down the sea of fire and climbing the mountain of knives is the main content of the knife shaft section. On the day of the festival, Lisu people gathered on the knife and pole field in full costumes. In the center of the field, there are two thick bamboo poles more than 20 meters long, with more than 30 long knives with upward blades inserted into them called "knife poles". Most of the people climbing the knife pole are strong middle-aged Lisu men. They have a special set of pole climbing skills after long-term training. Pole climbers are usually dressed in red cloth and barefoot in red clothes. After dancing and dancing around the pole, they jumped onto the pole barefooted, holding the blade face in their hands, stepping on the sharp blade and bravely climbed upward. When climbing to the top, you have to do difficult movements such as handstands. You should set off firecrackers to celebrate after the performance. The onlookers cheered enthusiastically and competed to pay tribute to the pole climber by offering wine.

The day before climbing the pole, a "jumping into the sea of fire" competition was held. That is, piles of firewood were lit in the field and five strong Lisu middle-aged men were selected to jump in the blazing fire with bare feet. They rushed into the sea of fire at one time, rolled over at the other time, flew into the sky and fell at the other time. He also held the red fireball in his hands,"scrubbed" his face a few times, and then rolled and rubbed it quickly in his hands. In addition, activities such as cigarette bag throwing, dancing, singing, and swinging are also held during the festival, adding endless fun to the festival.

Lisu Ox Bathing Festival A traditional festival of the Lisu people in Yantou Township, Lanping County, Yunnan Province is held every year on the fifth day of the sixth lunar month. It is said that in the past, cattle lived comfortably in the sky. One day, the cow lowered its head to the world and saw that the Lisu people on the ground were living by eating bitter and astringent wild fruits. The cow suddenly felt sympathetic. Spring carried God's back and sprinkled the grain seeds hidden in the gourd onto the world. From then on, there were grains on the world, and the Lisu people got rid of hunger. God found out about it and pushed the cow off the earth in his rage.

The Lisu people were grateful to the cow for its kindness and allowed it to stay at home. The cow saw that people worked too hard and took the initiative to help pull the plow. God knew it and released various disasters such as frost, pests and other disasters. In order to ensure a bumper harvest, the cow asks God not to let go of various disasters every year after planting. In order to appreciate the contribution of the cow, the Lisu people bathe the cow after the spring planting on the fifth day of June every year, then cook a pot of porridge with salt and feed it to the cow. Finally, the oldest woman in the family prays for the cow to ask for mercy before God to avoid disaster.

Lisu Torch Festival is also known as the "ignition handle." A traditional festival of the Lisu people. It is held on the 24th day of June of the lunar calendar every year. There are also places that hold it on June 25. During the festival, every household of the Lisu ethnic group has to make torches. Each village also uses pine branches and dry firewood to make a huge pagoda-like firewood pile in the center of the square, and inserts a large branch on the firewood pile to decorate it with colorful colored paper and paper flowers. During the day, Lisu people gather happily in the square to hold horse racing, target shooting, crossbow shooting, swing playing and other activities.

Before night falls, the Lisu people will use torches to burn all unclean objects in front of and behind their houses to exorcise evil spirits. Afterwards, people holding torches gathered in the square to light the huge pagoda-shaped firewood pile. Suddenly, the square was full of flames and gongs and drums. In some Lisu areas, people have to wander around the village fields with torches. It is said that this can drive away wild beasts and pests, eliminate plagues and ward off evil spirits. Then people danced and danced around the huge fire.

There are many legends among the Lisu people about the origin of the Torch Festival. For example, a legend in the Luquan area says that a very poor old couple once had a beautiful daughter but was snatched away by the local toast and she was determined not to be forced to commit suicide. The villagers were very angry when they learned about this. That night, people lit blazing torches and gathered the crowd to revolt. This day happens to be the 24th of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, and the Lisu people celebrate this day as the "Torch Festival" to commemorate the rebellion. During the Torch Festival, people also kill pigs and sheep to visit relatives and friends.

Lisu Smelly Water Festival The traditional festival of the Lisu people in Lijiang, Yunnan Province is held every year from three days before and after the Lunar Summer Festival. This is a traditional bathing festival for the Lisu people. In the place where the Lisu people live in Lijiang, there is a spring water that surges out all year round. Every year, the spring water suddenly becomes turbid from the first three days to the last three days of the Summer Festival, so the local Lisu people call it "smelly water."

It is said that cooking with this water is particularly fragrant and delicious. Drinking this water can cure gastrointestinal diseases. If you bathe with this water, you can cure rheumatism. Therefore, not only people of all ethnic groups near the Lisu people will also come to the smelly water party. At that time, the Lisu people will dig a pit near the spring water, pick up the stones eroded by the spring water, lay the bottom, use firewood to burn the stones, and then put wooden strips, leaves, and blankets to pour the spring water on it. In the rolling water mist, people take off their clothes and lay on the blanket until they are sweating profusely before getting up and wiping them with a towel. The session will end after the turbid water becomes clear.

Lisu Harvest Festival is a Lisu festival in the Nujiang area of Yunnan Province. It is usually held from September to October of the lunar calendar every year, shortly after the harvest in Xingu. At that time, every Lisu family will slaughter sheep, chickens and steam them to make rice wine as gifts to each other. At night, the bonfires are brightly lit, Lisu men, women and children, full of joy of a harvest, and brought water, wine and food to gather in the village square to drink and sing wine to celebrate the festival. The most interesting thing is that "drink a cup of wine together" is called "banduo" in Lisu, which means two people hold a big bowl of wine, wrap their arms around each other's necks and shoulders, and then drink together. "Drinking together" is usually held among close friends when everyone is in the middle of the season. It is a symbol of intimacy and friendship. People drank and danced while drinking, and the elderly sang and danced while talking about ancient history. Young men and women of the Lisu ethnic group formed a circle and danced.

Lisu Xinmi Festival, also known as the "Taste New Festival", is a traditional festival of the Lisu people in Yunnan. It is held every year from September to October of the lunar calendar when rice is ripe. On the festival day, the Lisu people, with the joy of a bumper harvest, happily went to the fields to pull back the golden and plump ears of grain and processed them into fragrant new rice. Then mix the meat and new rice together and share it with the whole family. Before eating, feed a small amount to the domestic dog to express gratitude to the dog. It is said that this grain seed was preserved by the domestic dog during the disaster year. In the evening, the whole family sat around the fire pond for reunion dinner. This meal can only start if the whole family is complete.

It is said that once upon a time, there was a loving couple in the Lisu ethnic area. During the New Rice Festival, the husband finished eating and working because he couldn't wait, and the wife was angry about this. Since then, the couple often quarreled and finally had to divorce. In order to prevent this from happening again, during the festival, every family should be polite and reunite and sit around the fire pit chatting, drinking, laughing and singing. Finally, the entire village of Lisu men, women and children gathered in the center of the stockade and danced hand in hand all night long.

Lisu people in the long season Lisu language means celebrating New Year's Day. A traditional festival of the Lisu people. There is no unified date generally between the fifth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar and the tenth day of the first month of the following year. Before the festival, each family must clean, brew rice wine, pound cake, and kill pigs. The Lisu people in some areas place a little bit of the first rice cake they have been pounded on the peach, pear or apple tree to wish a fruitful future. Some also place corn, peanuts and other foods on a tripod in the huotang at the top of each foot. Put three slices of meat and three glasses of wine to encourage a bumper harvest in the coming year. On New Year's Eve, many Lisu families spread green pine wool in the main house to show good luck in eliminating diseases.

The whole family sat around on pine wool and had a reunion dinner. Before meals, you should serve a small bowl of rice for the dog to eat in return for the grain the dog has brought to the world. Some also fed salt to the cattle to show their hard work for the cattle for a year. On the morning of New Year's Day, the Lisu people put on festive costumes and gathered in a pre-decorated open field with colored doors. Two men and one woman opened the way to hold a crossbow shooting competition. One man held a red and white flag decorated with crossbows and arrows. The other man carried a crossbow head and inserted an arrow obliquely into the head of the crossbow, and lined up through the Xinmen Gate Field amidst the sound of Lusheng music and firecrackers.

After three shots of bronze cannons and shotguns, people offered wine to the red and white flags hanging high, and then everyone held hands and danced happily. After the dance, the competition used meat slices and fried sticks to make targets. Those who harvested the most were rated as excellent shooters. During the festival Lisu also held target shooting, singing, swing, dancing and other activities. On the third day of the first month, every family will also produce wine, meat, rice and firewood to light firewood and sacrifice to the mountain god to pray for abundant grain.

"River sand buries lover"

It is a traditional festival entertainment and courtship activity for Lisu youth in Fugong County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. It is held around the fourth and fifth days of the first month every year. At that time, young men and women will happily gather along the Nujiang River to sing and dance. With the help of his companions, he also dug a sand trap on the beach, carried the person he loved to "bury", pretended to be very sad and crying bitterly, sang funeral songs and danced funeral dances. After a while, he pulled out the person he liked. They believe that through this activity, on the one hand, it can show the sincerity and depth of the feelings between lovers, and on the other hand, it can bury the "death of death" attached to the loved one, so that the loved one can live a healthy and healthy life.

In addition to this activity, Lisu youth in the Fugong area will also hold a crossbow shooting competition of "shooting eggs on top of their heads". When the competition, the male youth carries the arrow bag, holds the crossbow, buckles a bowl above his sweetheart's head, places an egg on the bottom of the bowl (or a wooden bowl above his head, rice in the bowl, eggs) as the target, stands a few meters away. The competition began. The young man was calm and unhurried. He pulled the arrow and fired it. There was only a "pop" sound. The eggs flew everywhere, but his sweetheart was safe and sound. Immediately, a warm applause broke out on the field. This is a thrilling, exciting competition, is more than technology, courage, see the truth of the activities. Of course, a young man with poor skills would rather miss an egg than hurt his sweetheart.