Torch Festival

One of the primary holidays of the Yi minority is the Torch Festival. Many people today aren't certain of the festival's origins, but every year many return home to celebrate alongside family, friends, and neighbors. As legend has it, one year there was a terrible plague of locusts that were destroying crops and threatening the harvest. One man had the idea of using torches and swinging them around using the smoke and fire to drive away and kill the locusts. Apparently it must have worked because they have honored this event ever since. Today's celebrations include food, music, dance shows, bull fighting, and torch swinging.