It is well known that the Torch Festival is a festival celebrated by multiple ethnic groups. So, which ethnic groups celebrate the Torch Festival and where? What is the legend behind the Torch Festival? In the sixth lunar month, most parts of China are in high temperatures, with scorching sunlight baking all things, making everything seem as if it were scorched. Therefore, the sixth lunar month is also called "the Scorched Month." Huayi Network has compiled related articles about the sixth lunar month in 2021. Let's take a look together.

The Torch Festival is celebrated by which ethnic groups

The Torch Festival is a traditional festival of the Yi, Bai, Naxi, Jino, Lahu, and other ethnic groups, with profound folk cultural connotations, and is known as the "Carnival of the East." Different ethnic groups hold the Torch Festival at different times, mostly on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth lunar month. The main activities include bullfighting, sheep fighting, chicken fighting, horse racing, wrestling, dance performances, beauty contests, etc.

What is the legend of the Torch Festival?

1. Naxi Ethnic Group
The god of heaven, Zilao Apu, was very jealous of the happy life on earth and sent an old heavenly general to the human world to burn it into a sea of fire. The old heavenly general arrived on earth and saw a man carrying an older child on his back while leading a younger child by the hand. He felt curious and asked why. He found out that the child on his back was his nephew, and the one he was leading was his son. Because his brother and sister-in-law had died, the man believed he should take good care of his nephew. Moved by this virtue of humanity, the heavenly general decided not to harm them, and told the man about the god’s plan to destroy the earth. He advised him to tell people to light torches at their doorsteps on the twenty-fifth day of the sixth lunar month to avoid disaster. Thus, every household lit torches that night. The god of heaven thought that people had already perished in the fire, so he no longer suspected and fell asleep, never waking up again. Later, the Naxi people set this day as the Torch Festival.
2. Lahu Ethnic Group
There lived a kind person and a wicked person on the mountain. The wicked person ate human eyes. On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth lunar month, the kind person wrapped the goat's horns with beeswax, lit the wax, and sent the goat to find the wicked person. When the wicked person saw the sparks, he thought people were using guns to shoot him and hurriedly ran into a cave, blocking the entrance with stones. He was eventually drowned by water that came out of the cave. From then on, people no longer feared the wicked person eating eyes and could work safely. Therefore, the Lahu people set this day as the Torch Festival.
3. Bai Ethnic Group
In the legend of the Torch Festival among the Bai people, there is also the famous story of Anan (also known as Man Anran). The plot is basically consistent with the female character legend "Man Anran" and "The Burning of Songming Building," representing a result of the cross-variation between character legends and Torch Festival legends.