Contact information of Sapiwu School
Post Code 675211
Address Sapiwu primary school, Yulu village, Nanhua county, Chunxiong canton, Yunnan Province, China
Schoolmaster Zhao Yiyang
Telephone
邮编：675211
地址：云南省楚雄州南华县雨露乡洒披武小学
接收人：赵以阳（校长）
电 话：
An introduction of Sapiwu’s Yi People
Sapiwu villages are one of the habitats for generations of Yi people. Villagers in Sapiwu inherited the traditional culture and customs from their ancestor, possessing their own belief, dresses and festivals.
The ancestors of Yi people formed its unique Bimo Culture, various Totem (religious symbol) culture and nature worship. Bimo is the sage in a Yi village and presides various sacrificial ceremonies. Bimo Culture, extensive and profound, and with a long history behind it, is bearing a wealth knowledge of history, culture, military, religious, arts and medicine from ancient to modern times. The ancestors of Yi people invent the “ten-month Solar Calendar (divided a year into ten months, 36 days a month and plus five or six days as Transition to a New Year)” and “Eighteen-month Solar Calendar or Eighteen-month Calendar (divided a year into eighteen months, 20days a months and plus five days as the Sacrificial Day)” to direct the agriculture and other activities.
Yi people are hard-working people. Women of Yi are quite adept at embroidery, batik print and spin and weave out of their farming time. They are skilled at embroider many beautiful and colorful patterns so we can admire and appreciate the beautiful decorative designs and patterns on their clothes. They are also good at making clothes with fireweed and hemp for sacrificial ceremony. Men are capable of making farm tools, musical instruments and other daily necessities, for example: plough, harrow, three-stringed fiddle and wine vessels. They are creating a beautiful and happy life with their own hands.
Clothes of Yi People are distinctive. Women usually wear clothes with beautiful flowers embroidered on them and, long trousers with exquisite lace or skirts with numerous pleats. Men like to wear black narrow sleeved clothes, and loose pants. Both men and women wear head-handkerchiefs on their heads, while the women's are made with beautiful pictures embroidered on them.
Festivals with religious overtones are important for the Yi, their most important being the Torch Festival on the 24th day of the 6th lunar month and Chahua festival on the 8th day of the second lunar month. All the villagers of Yi gather together, wearing the traditional Yi clothes to celebrate the Torch Festival. During the day time, villagers trade their goods and local products. A variety of goods are exchanged through that way, enriching the villagers’ daily necessity. When night comes, families enjoy meal and drinking together, sharing their bitterness and happiest in the past year and exchange their wish for the coming year. And large bonfires are lit, with people sitting around, singing and dancing for the whole night. Young men and women know each other and fall in love through this chance. Chahua festival is another characteristic festival which is held to commemorate the hero, Mi Yinu, who helped the Yi people overcome the tyrannical ruler. When the Maying flowers blossom, people will wear them on their hairs or present them to each other and sing to their heart's content to celebrate their happy life.
Wine plays an important role in Yi’s social life. There is a saying among Yi people “No wine no respect, no wine no courtesy”. They like to gather and drink together at all times and all places. When drinking, the Yi people prefer to sit around a circle and drink one by one, which is called "drinking in turn". Yi people are very frank. They drink wine in welcoming and entertaining guests, and they will keep asking the guests to drink more and stop offering until the guests are drunk.
Yi people are improving and developing but still holding their own customers. They make the world’s history and culture abundant with their features.
