The Torch Festival or Fire Festival is one of the main holidays of the Yi people of southwest

China, and is also celebrated by other ethnic groups of the region. It is celebrated on the 24th or 25th day of the sixth month of the Yi calendar, corresponding to August in the Gregorian calendar.It commemorates the legendary wrestler Atilaba, who drove away a plague of locusts using torches made from pine trees. Since 1993, the government of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan has sponsored a modernised celebration of the festival, featuring wrestling,horse racing, dance shows, and a beauty contest. Different groups set the festival at different time.

This photo taken on July 20 shows dancing performance at a sports stadium near the Stone Forest, a popular tourist site with a typical karst formation,in Kunming city, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province.

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Dancers of the Yi ethnic group hold up Yin and Yang symbols, which refer to concepts in Chinese philosophy describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are in fact complementary.

         Dancers perform in Shilin county, Kunming, Yunnan province on Sunday night.

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         Dancers perform in Shilin county, Kunming, Yunnan province on Sunday night.

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         Dancers perform in Shilin county,Kunming, Yunnan province on Sunday night. 

In the Torch Festival, every family needs to light a torch and hold the torch to illuminate the corners in the room and walk around the fields. Some villagers even have torch parade so as to drive away all bad lucks and pray for a harvest. The custom of holding a torch to shed light on tree and field was found in Han people in Southern Song Dynasty. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, people in Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces had the custom as well. The most attractive activity is the Bonfire Party. People play music instruments like Yusheng(乐声), yueqin(月琴) and sanxian(three stringed plucked instrument), singing and dancing for a whole night.