Yunnan is charming not only for its natural beauty but also for its ethnic customs. The Yi people, one of its 25 ethnic groups, have a special festival — the Torch Festival.
The Yi love fire very much and even call ___1___ “the fire people”. They believe fire can keep bad things ___2___. The Torch Festival is their ___3___ celebration, held around the 24th day of the sixth lunar month.
Before the festival, women make nice clothes for the family and prepare ___4___ food. Men get ___5___ for fun activities like wrestling and bullfighting. During the festival, people put torches in front of their houses. Villages build big torch towers, over 20 meters ___6___, with pine branches and firewood, decorated with flowers and fruits.
___7___ night comes, everyone wears their best clothes and goes to the square. They light the torches and towers. The bright flames light up the night. Young people sing and dance ___8___ the fire. People throw rosin powder on the torches, ___9___ colorful flames. This shows good ___10___: young to old for long life, old to young for care, and young men to women for love.
A legend says a hero named Duoarezi beat an evil god. The god left pests, so people lit torches to kill them. This started the festival. The Torch Festival shows the Yi’s courage and joy for life.
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