Story 151: Yi Flower Arrangement Festival

Story 151: Yi Flower Arrangement Festival

Yi Flower Arrangement Festival

Author: Anonymous

The eighth day of the second lunar month every year is the Yi ethnic group’s Flower Arrangement Festival, also known as the Ma Ying Flower Festival. How did it come about?

A long time ago, the whole world was flooded, submerging the land. Only two brothers and sisters were left in the world. They hid in a big gourd, and the mouth of the gourd was sealed with wax. The gourd drifted in the flood for many days, and no one knew where it drifted to. One day, the flood began to recede, revealing the top of the mountain and the treetops. The gourd fell on the branch of a big tree. An eagle was flying over the top of the mountain.

It heard the sound in the gourd, that was a human being planted inside! The eagle picked up the gourd and put it on the top of the mountain. Now the gourd has a thin waist, which was what the eagle caught it that year. The mouse crawled out from the ground, and he heard the sound in the gourd, that was a human being planted inside. The mouse gnawed the wax, and a light appeared in the gourd. The brother and sister crawled out following the light. In the desolate world, only they were left.

The old man came to the brother and sister and said, “In order to pass on the human race, you two must get married.” The brother and sister replied, “How can we get married if we were born of the same parents?” The old man ordered, “There are only two of you in the human race, you must get married.” The brother and sister were very embarrassed. The elder brother thought of an idea and said, “Let’s burn a stick of incense on each side and ask the gods of heaven and earth. If the smoke rises and entangles together, we can get married.”

As a result, the smoke rose and really entangled together, but the sister insisted on not getting married. The brother said again, “Let’s each roll the millstone on the top of the mountain. If the two millstones come together, we can get married.” They did it again, and the two millstones came together without tilting. But the sister still refused to get married. The sister said, “Let’s roll the winnowing basket again. If the two winnowing baskets are not tilted and come together face to face, we can get married.” As a result, the two winnowing baskets really came together. The old man Jin Gui said, “What else do you have to say? Just get married.”

The younger sister tried again but it was no use. She said, “How can we get married without the permission of our parents and without a matchmaker?” The old man Jin Gui replied, “There is no human habitation these days. Where can we find people? The pine tree you see is your father, the evergreen is your mother, and the plum tree over there is your matchmaker. Just get married.” The brother and sister could no longer hold out, and in order to pass on their lineage, they finally got married.

After twelve months, the younger sister got pregnant and gave birth to a baby, but unfortunately it was not in human form, but a lump of flesh. What should they do? The younger sister blamed her brother, and the brother blamed the old man Golden Turtle.

At this time, the old man Golden Turtle appeared again, and he came to congratulate the brother and sister with a smile: “You have given birth to human beings.” After saying that, he drew out his sword and split the lump of flesh with one sword, and fifty boys and fifty girls appeared. The skin wrapped around the human beings was still bleeding, and the old man Golden Turtle picked it up with his sword and threw it on a small tree next to it. From then on, the tree bloomed with red horsetail flowers. This day was the eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar.

After the fifty boys and girls were born, how could the younger sister feed them alone? At this time, all the birds and beasts came to help, and they took the children away one by one. We Yi people were raised on wild horse milk, so we Yi people do not eat horse meat now.

The fifty boys and girls grew up and married each other, and today we have the Yi, Han, Miao, Hui, Tibetan, Bai, Dai and dozens of other ethnic groups. All ethnic groups are descendants of the same parents.

When the fifty boys and girls grew up, they could not find their parents, so they set out together to look for them.

The first thing they encountered was a bumblebee. They asked, “Brother bumblebee, have you seen our parents?” The bumblebee flew around buzzing, ignoring people. One person knocked it down with a branch, breaking its waist. Another person picked it up, tied it with a horsetail and let it fly away. From then on, the bumblebee became thin-waisted and stung people whenever it saw one.

The second time they met a pine tree, they asked, “Grandpa Pine Tree, where are our parents?” The pine tree replied impatiently, “I haven’t seen them. What parents? They were crushed to death when my shoulder fell down.” People said, “Okay, when our population grows, we’ll cut down a tree when you grow one.” Therefore, pine trees are used to build houses today.

The third time they met a palm tree. People asked, “Brother palm tree, have you seen our parents?” The palm tree replied, “No, if I had, I would have peeled their skin off.” People said, “One day when there are too many people, I will definitely peel off your skin.” So now, every year they peel off a layer of the palm tree’s bark.

People continued to move forward and came across a Podocarpus macrophylla. They asked, “Brother Podocarpus macrophylla, have you seen our parents?” The Podocarpus macrophylla replied, “They were just here enjoying the cool air!” People were happy that their parents had been found. People thanked the Podocarpus macrophylla and said, “Thank you. If your branches are broken or you are cut down in the future, your roots will sprout again.” Therefore, even if only a little bit of the Podocarpus macrophylla was left, it would still sprout again.

People continued to move forward and met a little bee. People asked, “Little bee, have you seen our parents?” The bee replied, “They just passed by the fork.” People said happily, “Kind bee, when people multiply in the future, you can live with us.” The bee replied, “That’s great. If I can live with people, I can give them some food every year.” Therefore, people now harvest honey once a year.

People chased to the edge of the pond and met a willow tree. They asked, “Sister Yangliu, have you seen our parents?” The willow tree replied, “Yes, they were drinking water just now.” People excitedly said, “Kind Yangliu, you will surely have good results and take root and sprout everywhere.” From then on, willow trees were very easy to plant and would survive no matter how they were planted.

People continued to move forward without stopping, but unfortunately they never met their parents. They only saw red horsetail flowers all over the hillside, so they settled down in the place where the horsetail flowers were in full bloom.

The eighth day of the second lunar month is a festival for the Yi people. On this day, men, women, old and young dance together, sing folk songs, kill chickens and cook meat to celebrate, and put horsetail flowers everywhere. This is the origin of the Horsetail Flower Festival.

215915