Knife-Pole Festival

Name: Knife-Pole Festiva I for the Lisu people
Time: The eighth day of the second lunar month
The Lisu, with a population oo about 634, 900, mainly live in concentrated communities in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province. There are also small groups scattered in Sichuan Province. According to historical records, the ancestors of the Lisu once lived along the banks of Jinsha River and Yalong River. Between the 15th and 18th century, they gradually migrated into the drainage areas of the Nu and Lancang rivers. The Lisu has their own language which is a branch of Tibeto-Burman language group. The Lisu people mainly engage in agriculture. Hunting also plays an important role in their life. The Lisu people are well known for their hospitality and unique etiquette. The annual Knife-Pole Festival on the eighth of the second lunar month features a physical contest with a history stretching back to hundreds of year. It aims to memorialize a Han hero who was sent by the Ming government and managed to drive away other ethnic groups that intruded into the Lisu area. On the eighth, the hero named Wang Ji was killed by traitors on his way back to Beijing, then capital of the Ming Dynasty.
The Knife-Pole Festival then became the exclusive and traditional festival of the Lisu ethnic group. On that day, people all dressed up and went in flocks to watch various activities including "Climbing Knife Pole "and" Diving into Fire Sea." The performers are jumping and dancing over burned coal bare-footed and half-naked, imitating behaviors of animals. They even brush some coals over their body and rub coal balls in hand. The "fire wash" is meant to fend off all the possible disasters and troubles in the new year.
Other performers put on red clothes and red turban. They strided up to a knife ladder which measures 20 meters long and was tied with 36 edged knives. They kneeled down in front of a picture of Wang Ji, drank off a bowl of wine prepared for them and began climbing the knife ladder. The first who reached the top will be hailed with applause and fire cracks. Surprisingly, these men returned to the group safe and round, not with even the slightest scratch.