The Mulam minority mainly inhabits in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They called themselves "Ling" or "Jin". In the past, the Mulam people were polytheistic and had many festivals. Except for October and November, there are festivals in all other months. Their most typical and important festival is the "Yifan" Festival, which is celebrated every year and a bigger celebration is held every three years. "Yifan" Festival, also called "Xileyuan" and "Yifan Gongye", is to pray to gods to drive evils away, protect villagers, gather lucks and celebrate harvest. It is a unique traditional festival to Mulam ethnic group, and it is full of strong thanksgiving and blessing connotation. "Yifan" Festival is celebrated by people on a day selected after Winter Begins.
There are many legends about Yifan Festival, among which the most widely-spread one is about the commemoration to a girl named Bai Ma. It is said that in ancient times, Mulam villages were constantly harassed by beasts, especially the Beast King-Lion, which was very ferocious and often hurt people or livestock as well as destroyed crops. At the moment when Mulam people were in hot water, there came a girl named Bai Ma. She was extremely strong. She killed the lion, rescued the people, recaptured the grains from the lion and sent them to the local people. She then made taros and sweet potatoes into cattle and buffalos to help people plow fields, and taught Mulam people kungfu to fight against beasts. From then on, Mulam villages enjoyed favorable weather for crops and had great harvests every year. In order to memorize the feat of Bai Ma, people collect money from each Dong (a Dong refers to a kindred clan with the same surname, as Mulam people live together based on kindred) to hold celebrations at the beginning of winter in every leap year. Hence, "Yifan" Festival was born.
The "Yifan" Festival is held on an "auspicious day" after Winter Begins. The purpose to cook "Yifan" is to redeem wishes to ancestors, pray for protection of people and livestock as well as harvests. In different places, people may celebrate the festival on different days. Generally, "Yifan" Festival is celebrated in the ancestral temple for one to three days. If there is not any ancestral temple, it is celebrated in the chief's home.
When it is celebrated, couplets are pasted to the door of the ancestral temple, and nine pieces of red, yellow, green and blue paper are pasted to the door lintel, writing "Fengshen" (show respect to gods), "Jifu" (gather luck), "Qinghe" (celebrate), "Yifan" and other characters. In front of the hall, three gates made of pine tree branches are placed and in the hall, an altar is set, in front of which candles are lit, joss sticks are burnt and sacrifices are offered. The ritual of "Yifan" Festival is composed of seven procedures, starting, inviting the gods, lighting a fire to burn the sacrifices, persuading the saint, singing the song of cattle, reuniting the army and sending the gods back. The whole ritual is organized by two male emcees. One wears a facial mask, red robe and straw sandals, and dances to invite and show reverence to gods, called "dance master", and the other wears common clothes and sings the song to invite and show reverence to gods, called "singer". The singer sings the "Song of ten counsels" to counsel people to slough off bad habits and do good deeds, and instruct people to respect parents, teachers and the old, get along well with neighbors, be honest, run businesses with good faith, be thrifty, love the country and so on, revealing Mulam people's moral ideas and their pursuit of perfect life from all aspects. After the ritual of "Yifan" festival ends, all Mulam people will have a party to drink, sing, and perform lion dance for several days and nights.
In the celebration of "Yifan" Festival, not only each Dong's members would participate in and offer sacrifices to the gods, singers would also be invited to sign and dance to please the gods. All the villagers will perform the lion and dragon dances and sing for three consecutive days.
