Chinese Bayberry Festival in Chuxiong City

Overview

Chinese Name: 楚雄市杨梅节
English Name: Chinese Bayberry Festival in Chuxiong City
Location:楚雄市中山镇，大过口乡，三街镇/Chuxiong City, Zhongshan Town, Daguokou Township. Sanjie Town

Lengends of the Festival

Every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, the Yi people of the Chuxiong area celebrate the annual Yangmei Festival, known in Yi language as “Sala Wo Luo Zhi Ga.” The festival coincides with the ripening of the yangmei fruit, and the mountains are filled with bright red yangmei hanging from the branches, a truly delightful sight. During this beautiful season, Yi families gather from all directions in the Xiaoheiqing area of the Black Cow Mountain to celebrate their traditional festival.

The origin of the Yangmei Festival is associated with a beautiful and moving legend. It is said that a long time ago, there lived a lovely Yi girl named Amanuo on the Black Cow Mountain. Amanuo had a singing voice sweeter than that of a lark and was more beautiful than the blossoms of the horse cherry tree. She could weave thousands of colorful silk fabrics and embroider a thousand pleated skirts in a single day. Her mountain songs spread across the nine mountains and eighteen valleys, and her clothing reached all over the Ailao Mountains. Many young men sought her hand in marriage, but Amanuo only loved her sweetheart, Su Lezuo.

Later, the local chieftain, Ah Zha Pen, took a liking to Amanuo and came to propose with gold and silver treasures, accompanied by a procession of cattle, horses, mules, and sheep. Despite the chieftain’s persistent wooing, Amanuo remained silent, for her heart belonged only to Su Lezuo. Angered by her rejection, the chieftain deceitfully invited Su Lezuo to a hunting contest, where Su Lezuo went and never returned. Amanuo felt as if the moon was without the sun when she lost her beloved. Tearful and heartbroken, the kind and beautiful Yi girl searched the entire Ailao Mountains but could not find her brother Su Lezuo. Little did she know, her beloved had already been killed by the treacherous chieftain.

Strangely, when Amanuo’s tears fell to the ground, they miraculously sprouted into a sea of yangmei trees overnight. Meanwhile, the chieftain thought that with Su Lezuo’s death, he could finally marry Amanuo, but she refused to agree to his proposal. Therefore, the chieftain conspired again, threatening that if Amanuo did not comply, he would attack her village on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. Fear spread through the entire Black Cow Mountain as local residents trembled in fear. To protect her people from harm, Amanuo set a large fire atop Black Cow Mountain on that day. Facing the fierce chieftain and her kind villagers, Amanuo sang one blessing song after another for her people and one denunciation song after another against the chieftain, before resolutely jumping into the blazing fire. The brutal chieftain was taken aback, as the blood-red flames consumed the brave and kind girl. As the firelight faded, suddenly the sun pierced through the heavy clouds, illuminating Black Cow Mountain. In the sunlight, the yangmei trees were suddenly laden with ripe, sweet red yangmei.

Later, to commemorate this self-sacrificing and fearless Yi girl, each year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, the Yi people gather at Xiaoheiqing in Black Cow Mountain for the Yangmei Festival.

On this day, beautiful Yi girls don their finest clothes and carry their favorite small bamboo baskets to the mountains to pick the ripe and red yangmei. The Yi young men bring their large Sanxian (three-stringed instrument) and play flutes, coming early to the Yangmei Street. Around noon, people play the lusheng (a traditional reed instrument) and dance, singing “A Su Zhe” melodies, greeting friends and exchanging blessings. Under the cool shade of the yangmei trees, young Yi men and women sing “Qing Peng Diao” songs to express their feelings and seek kindred spirits. If a young man finds the yangmei in the girl’s bamboo basket not sweet enough, it signifies that they do not yet understand each other well enough, and they would wait until the following year to meet again. If three yangmei taste sweet in their mouths, it indicates they have found their soulmate. If Yi girls are not satisfied with the young men, they politely decline, claiming their yangmei are not sweet. If both parties are interested, they will pair off and blend into a world of song and a sea of dance until “the brother dances through a thousand layers of floor” and “the sister wears out her embroidered shoes.”

That night, the Yi girl would bring the young man home and accommodate him in the “girl’s room,” waiting for a matchmaker to appoint a date, while the bi mo (a traditional priest) selects an auspicious day for the wedding, celebrated with music and dance as they welcome the new couple.