Slideshows

Every three years, on Torch Festival Day, the villages of Haidong compete in a great Dragon Boat Race.

Once a year, on lunar June 13th, the Bai gather at the spring that feeds Fengyu 凤羽 valley.

A weaving Yi family in 吊草 village, just south of Xiaguan.

The events for Raosanling the in lakeside Bai village of 马久邑 have little changed over a century.

A Bai folk music show in the small lakeside village 马久邑 near Dali as part of Raosanling 绕三灵.

After the Beginning of Summer 立夏节 early May, rice transplanting begins near the old town of Dali.

Bai people love their antiphonal singing, a improvised playful competition between men and women, full of innuendo and sometimes outright dirty. Here pictures from perhaps the nicest 对歌, held annually on 三月三 at 保和寺 near 湾桥.

Qingmingjie is a day of remembrance and ancestor worship celebrated in early April, here photographed on the slopes of Cangshan.

Yi villages surrounding Dali are heavily influenced by the Bai. Here the Yi of 吊草 village worship the Benzhu on the first full moon of the year.

Annually, on 正月十四，the Yi of Weishan make the pilgrimage up to Small Chicken Foot Mountain.

Who says Benzhu worship is only for old Bai women? Images from the 接本主 (挖色, 大年初八，初十).

Significant events call for a big communal meal, reinforcing the community. Here the villagers of the three villages of Shengjiu 生久三村 celebrate the consecration of a new Benzhu temple with a feast for over 1000 people.