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Yi
Minority - Dali Travel |
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Yi
minority is widely distributed
in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou
and Guangxi. The Yi minority has
up to 6 different dialects. They
create their own written words;
there are around 1000 characters
in common uses among the Yi minority.
Yi minority is engaged in agriculture
and animals husbandry, they are
also good at arts and crafts including
lacquer painting, embroidery,
silverworks, carving etc. |
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Clothing:
Yi minority has many different
branches; everywhere has their
specific clothing features. Yi
women in general wear embroidered
clothes, matched with black head
cloth, earrings and some silverworks.
Except the Yi from Liangshan Mountain
area, most of the others wear
long pants instead of skirts.
In Yunnan, single girls can be
defined from their colorful, cockscomb-shaped
hat bordered with large amount
of silver ornaments. During the
past, the Yis who lived in the
mountain area, no matter boys
and girls, they all used to wear
the knee-length sheepskin cape.
Yi girls who are below 15 have
to comb their hair as one single
braid. After girls are over 15,
they hold a ceremony to announce
themselves officially to be an
adult. One of the customs is to
change their single braid into
two, wear the colorful embroidered
head cloth and twinkling silver
eardrops. |
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Almost
all of the Yi women are proficient
in embroidery. They learn all
kinds of embroidery, cross-stitch
and applique skills from mothers
since their childhood. Seniors
of Yi minority usually pay great
attentions on the girls’
embroidery craftsmanship. As long
as the girl didn’t make
a good job of the embroidery,
no matter how pretty she is, it’s
still difficult for her to find
husband. That’s probably
one of the reasons why their clothing
is embroidered with various patterns
and each of those is almost like
a piece of exquisite art. |
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Festivals:
There are many different traditional
festivals happened in Yi minority.
Some of the main festivals include
“Year of the tenth month”,
Torch festival and some other
regional festivals and activities
for sacrifice to Gods and ancestors.
“Year of the tenth month”
hold at the most auspicious day
within the first ten-day period
of every tenth lunar month. It
last around 5-6 days and followed
the customs the Yi minority people
have to offer pigs, lambs, or
cattle for sacrifices. At that
moment, Yi people dress up their
best costumes for the party, visit
and present some gifts to their
relatives and friends. |
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The
Torch festival is the most ceremonious
festival for the Yi minority people.
It happened on the 24th to 25th
in every sixth lunar month. People
gather together to worship gods
and ancestors by sacrifice cattle
or lambs. During the feast, they
all bless to have the best harvest
in the future. The Torch festival
last for 3 days, on the first
day all the family members gather
for the celebration, while the
last 2 days they join the public
activities include wrestling,
horse-racing, bull-fighting, dragon-boat
racing and tug of war etc. then
conclude with the grand bonfire
evening party. |
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To
sacrificial the Dragon is another
important event for the Yi minority.
Yi people choose the one of the
“Dragon day” in every
second to forth lunar month to
do the celebration. Villagers
gather and bring their own rice
and salt then sit down under the
dragon tree to make a collective
worship. In Yunnan, the Yi minority
in general choose the first “Dragon
day” in the first lunar
month to be the ceremony. After
the celebration, everybody sit
on the floor and share their food
to conclude the ceremony.
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