Mizhi Festival is a festival in which Yi people
remember and reproduce the ancient social form that the ancestors once lived in
a unique way.
Each village chooses a piece of woods in the
corrie not far away as “Mizhi forest” and an old tall tree in this forest as
“dragon tree” - the divine symbol of it. Mizhi forest is a sacred place that
cannot be offended. It is not allowed to cut trees or branches, herd or hunt in
it. Women are not allowed to enter this forest, and dead people are never
allowed to be buried here.
Mizhi Festival is a purely men's festival that
does not allow women to participate. Clergy were selected by divination before the festival to
prepare and host all the activities in Mizhi Festival.
Celebration is held entirely in Mizhi forest.
After dawn, all the clergy go to Mizhi forest
with the sound “A Ge! A Ge!” and they do their job busily
for the festival.
Mizhi Festival is used to be celebrated from the
first mouse day to horse day in lunar winter month, usually lasting three to
seven days. In the rest days are available for hunting on the mountain or
fishing in the river, but no farming. Women can do needlework, laundry or
housework, and they are not allowed to farm either. From the second day, young
men and women can sing, dance, and date on the mountain. After seven days, all
the clergy go to the Small Mizhi Forest to hold a small ritual activity,
indicating the ending of the yearly festival.