Customs and culture of Dulong nationality

Dulong people used to believe in animism, worship natural objects and believe in ghosts. People think that wind, rain, electricity, thunder, mountains, floods, boulders and strange trees are haunted. Ghosts can do harm to people, so people spend a lot of livestock food to sacrifice to ghosts in order to pray for blessings and avoid disasters. The ghost worship of Dulong is carried out by wizards. There are two kinds of wizards, one is Namsa, who presides over sacrifices and divination, and the other is Duomusha, who specializes in exorcising ghosts. Namsa has a higher status.

The only festival of Dulong is the Lunar New Year, which is in December of the lunar calendar. There is no fixed date, and the length of the festival depends on the amount of food. This festival is called "Kaque Wow" Festival.

The Traditional Festival of Dulong-Dulong Year

Dulong people call it "Kakwa". This is the only festival of Dulong in a year. They regard1February 29th as New Year's Eve and 30th as the first day of the New Year.

According to legend, a long time ago, two brothers lived by the Dulong River. They lost their parents when they were young, and they took the mountains and forests as their home, shooting with crossbows, and they came through thick and thin. One day, two brothers with long knives on their backs and hard crossbows in their hands went hunting in Bila Barrel on the snowy mountain of Dandrika. It's a cloudy day, and animals can't leave their nests. I didn't see a thin rock sheep until afternoon. Brothers, split up. My brother lost his way and drove into a high mountain and deep valley, where peaks competed and dangerous rocks stood.

When night enveloped the mountains, my brother waited at the appointed place. However, after waiting for a while, the moon hung on the top of Gaoligong Mountain, and there was no sign of my brother. With an anxious heart, my brother went into the deep mountain valley to find his only relative. I don't know how many mountains I have climbed and how many rapids I have crossed. I searched for nine years, eleven months and twenty-nine days. 1On February 30th, my brother came back suddenly. When the two brothers met, they were both sad and happy. My brother said sadly to his younger brother, "My good brother, it is not my brother who has the heart to leave you. Ever since our brothers separated, I have been trapped in the Longtan by a demon. The devil is eager to see you looking for your brother. Starting today, let me come back to see you every year1February 30. " My brother went on to say, "The day we met is the end of a year and the beginning of a year. Let's call it Chinese New Year. " In order to celebrate the reunion after losing his younger brother, my younger brother specially prepared various dishes made of rare birds and animals and rice made of various grains for his younger brother. After dinner, my brother was very excited to see him. He knocked the gong, lit the torch, invited all the old brothers in the cottage, told everyone the good news, and asked his brother to sing and dance with the villagers. Since then, the day when brothers meet has become the year of Dulong.

In festivals, every clan and tribe must collectively hunt wild animals; Slaughter pigs and sheep, and distribute the prey to families. Tribal housewives distribute new year's goods to every family. They call it "sharing food". In the past, when eating on New Year's Eve, we had to wait for every member of the tribe to arrive. If one person is missing, we won't open the pot. On the first morning of that year, just before dawn, gong sounded in the hut. Welcome the new year. After breakfast, with the gong ringing, people came to the open space of the hut to celebrate the New Year with quaint customs. People, regardless of age, gender and family, are holding hands and dancing the traditional dance of their own nation. The elders used Yi Long, a person with exquisite rattan, filled with delicious dishes and distributed them to everyone in the traditional way. At that time, singing, cheering and dancing were intertwined. Whether drinking, eating or eating meat, housewives eat part of it in Dulong. When the guests arrive, they will get the same share.

After nightfall, the man drank by the fireplace and read a toast, then threw the wine bowl on the bamboo shelf on the fireplace, with the bowl mouth facing the sky as a good omen.

Dulong people are very hospitable In case of hunting wild animals or a family killing pigs and cattle, a banquet for distant relatives and neighbors will be formed. In addition, Dulong people also have the custom of entertaining strangers, warmly entertaining passing guests and staying at home. It is a shame to think that there is no food and no guests to stay in the dark. They have a good tradition of not answering the road and not closing the door at night, and regard stealing as the most shameful behavior. When the Dulong people carry out some primitive sacrificial activities, tourists are not allowed to visit.

Woodcut Invitation

Every winter or twelfth lunar month, Dulong people have the only traditional festival, which is called "Kakwa" in Dulong language and is an annual festival of Dulong people. The length of the festival mainly depends on the preparation of food, usually two or three days or four or five days. There is no fixed date for festivals. All ethnic groups are free to choose a good auspicious day to start the new year. Dulong people live in the Dulong River valley between Gaoligong Mountain and Dailika Snow Mountain, and are one of the ethnic groups with less population in China. After choosing an auspicious day for the China New Year, all families invited their relatives and friends to celebrate the New Year. They carved a gap in a special piece of wood, which was an "invitation" to send people to the invited village. There are several notches carved in the wood, which means that a ceremony will be held in a few days to celebrate New Year's Day. Those who receive the woodcut "invitation" should bring all kinds of food to show their respect and congratulations. When the host and the guest meet, they should drink a bottle of water wine and sing to each other. In the evening, the whole village and guests gathered around the bonfire, tasted food and watched young men and women dance "pot dance" to celebrate the annual harvest. When making a toast, the man drank the wine. After drinking, he threw the wine bowl into the bamboo frame hanging above the fire pit to indicate good luck, with the bowl mouth facing up as a good sign.

The custom of noodles

The ancient custom of noodles

In ancient times, tattoos were called carving, muscle, face, foot, face, ink and blue. It is a body decoration method using sharp tools such as thorns, needles and knives. Carve patterns or symbols on the skin, infiltrate the color, keep it for life and never fade. It originated very early and developed from the custom of primitive people painting on the skin for decoration or religious activities. It is widely popular among many primitive peoples in Southeast Asia, Oceania, Central and South America and Africa. Today, many indigenous peoples in these areas still regard it as an irreplaceable ornament and love it fondly. In the southeast and southwest of China, the ancient tattoo style is also very popular. Until modern times, there are still traces of this custom among Li, Dai, Bulang, De 'ang, Dulong, Jinuo, Wa, Nu, Jingpo, Yi and Gaoshan nationalities.

The tattoo of Dulong women is mainly concentrated on the face, so it is often called "painting face" and "tattooing face". Every time a girl reaches the age of twelve or thirteen, she needs a tattoo to symbolize adulthood. During the lecture, an elderly and experienced woman first drew a pattern on the girl's face with a bamboo stick dipped in pot smoke water, then struck the thorn with a small wooden stick or a wooden stick with a needle to make it pierce the skin according to the pattern, then rubbed the ash or grass juice at the bottom of the pot into the wound, and then took off the scab skin to form a blue-green pattern. Patterns can be roughly divided into two types: in the middle and upper reaches of Dulong River, there are five or six rhombic patterns connected from eyebrows to the bridge of the nose, and then they spread to both sides of the nose with the mouth as the center, and continue to stab small rhombic patterns. The small rhombic patterns meet in the mandible through the cheeks to form a square circle, in which stripes are pierced vertically, and dot patterns are stabbed horizontally to the eyes from above the square circle. The whole pattern is like a butterfly spreading its wings. The lower reaches of Dulongjiang River are relatively simple, generally only two or three lines of vertical stripes are written on the mandible. I won't write the rest.

According to historical records and folklore, the origin of the custom of tattooing faces of Dulong women has its specific historical reasons. For two or three hundred years, the influence of Tibetan Tusi and Lisu slave owners has continuously penetrated into Dulong area, brutally exploiting and squeezing Dulong people. In particular, the Tibetan toast in Chahualun collects all kinds of tributes from Dulong every year, even taxes on nose, mouth and hair. If they can't afford it, they will forcibly take women to be slaves in Tibetan areas. Especially young and beautiful Dulong women are often in danger of being taken away from their families. In this special social and historical environment, in order to avoid being plundered and trampled by the toast, Dulong women have to adopt passive self-help methods: smearing their cheeks with a pot of cigarettes, and even preferring to dye their faces as "black ink and blue lines" that can never be washed away, making them look like people and ghosts, making strangers afraid and afraid to approach. Over time, the custom of tattooing was formed and continued until the early days of liberation. Therefore, tattoo is a negative form of struggle for Dulong women to resist national oppression and seek personal safety in history.

Wood carving knot rope

Dulong people have no personality of their own. Before the founding of New China, they kept records by carving wood or sending messages, and counted time by tying knots.

Dulong's woodcut notes are widely used. Woodcuts engraved with various symbols play the same role as ordinary words and documents. Can record and convey toasts' orders, personal debts, bride price list, etc. The woodcut (toast) issued by the government is large and looks like wood blade, with a width of about 20 cm and a length of about 70-80 cm. The middle is slightly thick, the sides are flat, the top is inclined and pointed, and the lower end has a handle. Different content should be engraved with different gaps or line segments, graphics, etc. For example, a woodcut used to convey a toast and pay taxes has a big gap in the upper left and several small gaps in the lower left, indicating that a big housekeeper and several attendants are coming. Carve a big gap and two small gaps on the right, which means asking a leader and two people to see you. Sometimes different objects such as arrows, peppers and chicken feathers are attached to the woodcut to show different meanings. For example, arrows indicate that they will arrive soon, peppers indicate that disobedience will be severely punished, and feathers indicate that they will arrive soon. This kind of woodcut is usually explained by the sender.

People use smaller woodcuts. It is often used to record debts and gifts. If there are no cows in a family sacrifice, the size of the cows must be measured and recorded when borrowing them from relatives and friends. The specific method is: firstly, measure the bust of the cow with a bamboo stick, then measure the length of the bamboo stick with fists, and carve the number of fists on both sides of a piece of wood. Finally, split the sawdust from the middle and hold half on each side. If the cattle are returned, the difference will be made up with grain, and more will be refunded and less will be made up. Then throw the woodcut into the fire and burn it. There is no dispute.

Knot timing is also widely used. Refers to the timing of knotting with fine twine, and each knot represents one day. If you are on a business trip, walk for a day and tie a knot. Untie a knot one day after you come back, so that you can accurately calculate the date and itinerary. The annual festival is the happiest moment for Dulong people. But because there is no fixed date, a temporary agreement is needed every year. Most of the agreed methods are also done by knotted ropes. If it is decided to celebrate the festival after 10, prepare a number of ropes tied with 10 to give to relatives and friends, and solve one each day. When the last knot is finished, it means that the festival is coming. Everyone should kill pigs and cows, sing and dance, and celebrate the New Year.

The people are simple

The folk customs in Dulong area are simple, and the ancient custom of "not taking the road at night and not closing the door" still exists. Whoever finds something on the road will not keep it for himself. Or wait for the owner to come back, or try to find out where the owner is and try to return it to the owner as soon as possible. When people go out for a long trip, they often divide the grain they carry with them into several parts, hang them on trees or put them in caves and other places along the way for consumption when they return. No matter how hungry passers-by are, they will never eat without authorization. Even clothes and other items can be placed on the roadside anytime and anywhere. As long as you press a stone, it means that it belongs to the owner and no one else will pick it up.

Dulong people don't pick up things and never steal things. Most of their granaries are built behind houses, even on mountains or far from home. Only bamboo sticks or wooden sticks are inserted horizontally on the warehouse door, so there is no danger of theft. Even if you go out from home, the door is simple and no one will enter without permission.

The traditional virtues of Dulong are also manifested in many other aspects. For example, the virtue of solidarity and mutual assistance in a whole village with something to do; The virtue of respecting the old and loving the young and helping the poor; The virtue of courtesy and hospitality, and so on.

Dietary customs

Dulong people like drinking, drinking tea and smoking. Dulong people make wine in a strange way. Dig a cellar on the ground, surround it with banana leaves, mix the cooked corn or rice with distiller's yeast, put it in the cellar, cover it with banana leaves, seal it with soil, heat it with fire, and drill a small hole in the cellar three to five days later. If there is strong alcohol, the brewing is successful. Open the sealed mud mouth, take out the corn or rice, put it in a basin and knead it, and mash the filtered juice. Whether drinking, eating or eating meat, housewives eat part of it in Dulong. Divide the guests equally when they come. Generally, every family has several fireplaces. Every child will add an extra fireplace after marriage, and cooking will be undertaken by each fireplace in turn. Dulong people invite each other in a very unique way. Usually a piece of wood is used as an invitation to invite each other, and the wood is sent to the guest's home for invitation. Several notches carved in the wood indicate that a banquet ceremony will be held in a few days. Invited guests should bring all kinds of food to show their gratitude. After entering the village gate, guests should first drink a bottle of wine with their host, then sit down to eat and watch songs and dances. After nightfall, the man drank and read a toast by the fireplace, and then put the wine bowl on the bamboo shelf on the fireplace, with the mouth facing the sky as a good omen. Dulong people are honest, even if they meet on the road, they should treat each other with wine. They think it is a shame not to give food to guests and not to stay in the dark.

National marriage custom

Dulong people get married outside the family, which is a monogamous individual family and free to fall in love. Dulong young men and women will make a promise to each other after falling in love. The girl gave the boy a single dragon carpet carefully woven by himself, and the boy gave the girl a hoe or basket woven by himself.

When it comes to proposing marriage, the young man will invite a glib man to marry the woman. You said that if you are married, you should carry a teapot and bring tea, cigarettes and teapot in your backpack.

Go to a girl's house, no matter how the other person's attitude is, the person who says you are married should fill the teapot with water as quickly as possible, burn it in the fireplace and put it on. Then take out the tea and teapot from the backpack, and take out the bowl from the girl's cupboard to make tea. Whether the girl's family agrees or not, she can only wait around the fireplace. As soon as the water boils, the married people immediately soak the tea in the tea jar and then pour it into the bowl. Respect the girl's parents first, then her brothers and sisters, and finally the girl herself. Next, we started talking about marriage, saying nothing more than how nice the young man is and how much the family likes girls.

At a certain time, the girl's family didn't say anything, but the girl's father or mother drank the tea in one gulp, and the girl and others followed suit, and the marriage was completed. If no one drinks tea until late at night, come back the next night. If no one drinks tea for three consecutive nights, it means that the girl doesn't agree with the marriage. If you still want to talk, you need to wait until next year.

The wedding of Dulong is relatively simple. At the ceremony, parents of both men and women should introduce their sons and daughters to everyone and encourage the new couple to care about each other. In the future, one of the hands or feet will be broken or blind. Then a couple drinks concentric wine, everyone dances solo, and the ceremony is over.

The wedding taboo of Dulong: 1. Strictly abide by the system of intermarriage outside the race and prohibit intermarriage within the race. In the old society, there were fixed marriage groups in the family. 2, betrothal or marriage taboo no bride price. 3. Avoid divorce. If the wife abandons her husband, there is still a younger sister at home, and the wife and younger sister will arrive, otherwise the bride price will be refunded in full. If the husband abandons his wife, the wife's family can pay less or not. 4. It is forbidden to intermarry with Tibetans. In the old society, Dulong people were forbidden to marry Tibetans, but this has changed.

In the past, the marriage situation of Dulong was complicated, which almost included all kinds of marriage forms in different stages of human society. After liberation, the people's government helped the Dulong people to develop production, carry out economic construction, improve transportation, open up posts and telecommunications, and send culture, education and medical care to Dulong Valley, which fundamentally changed the face of Dulong inhabited areas. With the development of economy and culture, China's marriage law has been gradually implemented in Dulong area, and the old marriage customs have undergone great changes. Monogamy has been established, and the marriage of wife and sister, husband and brother, unequal marriage and fixed marriage outside the family have been basically abandoned, and there are fewer cases of buying and selling marriages.

Sacrifice cattle to heaven

Dulong people celebrate the harvest ceremony. Generally held every autumn, the most important and largest ceremony is the annual festival "Kakwa".

The bull race ceremony was presided over by the wizard. At the beginning of the ceremony, a cow wearing a dragon festival blanket was led into the stadium and tied to a thick wooden stake. People take cows as the center and automatically form circles, beating gongs and drums, waving swords and guns and dancing.

After other sacrifices were arranged, the priest lit the hair of Song Ming and Song Qing, muttered to himself, prayed to Mongo, and prayed for him to bless the safety of people and animals, and everything went well, pushing the sacrificial ceremony to a climax. Then the wizard stabbed the cow with a sharp bamboo spear, and the cow was killed by a fall. Then everyone in cook the meat shares the food. The wizard will carry a cow's head and lead the people to dance around the "sacrifice cow". At this time, the atmosphere of the New Year reached a climax. Everyone sang and danced while drinking and eating meat, and Dulong River became a sea of joy. Finally, all participants in the cattle race ceremony were given an average portion of beef, and everyone had a drink and a meal to celebrate the good year and pray for a bumper harvest and prosperity for people and animals.

The parade is held on a certain day in the twelfth lunar month every year (the time varies from place to place). The length of festivals often depends on how much food is prepared. It usually lasts for two or four or five days. During the Chinese New Year holiday, the most solemn sacrificial activity is to "sacrifice cows to heaven".

When driving cattle, the owner of the New Year's Festival first tied the cattle to a stake, then a young woman spread a linen blanket on the back of the cattle, hung beads on the horns, arranged sacrifices, lit Song Ming and pine wool (pine leaves), and finally a young man with both parents stabbed the cattle to death with a sharp bamboo spear, then cut the beef on the spot and cooked it in a cauldron immediately. During the festival, all Dulong people should greet each other and congratulate each other as a family. Dulong people invite each other in a very unique way. A piece of wood is usually used as an invitation to invite each other. At that time, the wood chips were sent to the invited guests' homes, and several notches carved on the wood chips indicated that a banquet ceremony would be held in a few days.

Invited guests should bring all kinds of food to show their gratitude. After entering the village gate, guests should first drink a bottle of wine with their host, then sit down to eat and watch songs and dances. After nightfall, the man drank by the fireplace, read a toast, and then threw the wine bowl on the bamboo shelf on the Tang Guang, with the mouth facing the sky as a good sign.

On the second day of the banquet, some livestock farms will hold a celebration of shooting the sun, kneading buckwheat flour mixed with honey into the heads of various animals, offering sacrifices on the slope behind the house at sunrise, then shooting at the preset target with bows and arrows by young people, and finally distributing the sacrifices made of buckwheat flour to onlookers.

At wedding banquets, Dulong people often kill pigs and chickens to entertain guests. Every time a woman gives birth to a child after marriage, her son-in-law will give her father-in-law a cow or something else, such as an iron pot and a knife, to express her gratitude. Dulong people are honest, even if they meet on the road, they should treat each other with wine. They think it is a shame not to give food to guests and not to stay in the dark. Building houses, weddings, funerals and weddings should take the initiative to help each other. In case of prey or killing pigs and cattle, please invite distant relatives and neighbors to have dinner and give gifts after dinner.

Funeral custom

Most Dulong people are buried in the earth. On the second day after their death, people in the village and relatives near and far will send food, wine, chicken and so on. As a sign of condolences. Generally, the next day is a funeral, and on the third day, the family members of the deceased will lead the villagers to their warehouse to open a warehouse to make wine and enjoy it together. Some even kill pigs to entertain guests as a reward. At that time, family members, relatives and friends will also give gifts. This kind of funeral usually begins in the afternoon and lasts until late at night. When drinking, the deceased will be given a share, and the old people in the village will also cook something for the family of the deceased. Dulong has its own unique calendar algorithm. In the long-term struggle of production and life, according to the changes of nature, Dulong people call it a year from the closure of mountains by heavy snow to the next year, which is called "extreme friends". A year is divided into twelve festivals at different times.

In January, it is called "Meng", which means a snowy month. In this month, everyone has a rest and every family grows dried potatoes.

February is called "Abo", which means that the grass begins to grow and it's time to plant a lot of potatoes.

March is called "luxury time", which means sowing month, planting millet, taro, cotton and other crops.

In April, it is called "Changmujiang", which means the flowering moon, peach blossoms, cranes singing and sowing are finished.

May, called "Oichi", means burning volcanoes in the middle of the month, burning a large number of volcanoes and stopping planting.

June is called "Boone", which means "Hunger Month". At this time, all food is stored, and when food is in short supply, a large number of wild food is collected.

July, called "Arong", means that the grass blooms in the moon and the grass is mowed to harvest wild grain.

August, known as "Achangmu", means the first frost month, when the grass froze to death and the crops began to be harvested.

September is called "cicada", which means harvesting the moon, millet, corn, barnyard grass and buckwheat.

In October, it was called "General Jia Mu", which means Snow Moon. After the harvest, the grain is stored and the snow falls on the top of the mountain.

November is called "pulling the stem", which means that the water falls on the moon and the river falls, looking for winter firewood, cutting bitter buckwheat and preparing for winter.

12 month is called "cut if you get it", which means Chinese New Year, and it is also called "Luo She Shi La". Women cut live hemp, weave linen and dance cattle.

After the founding of New China, Dulong people began to learn advanced calendars, and learning scientific farming calendars became a reference for folk farming. Dulong gradually abandoned this primitive natural calendar algorithm and adopted the same calendar (summer calendar) as Han nationality, but there are still folk customs such as "sowing month", "harvesting month" and "Chinese New Year month". Ordinary elderly people are not used to using the summer calendar, and still take the change of natural phenomena as the symbol of production. folk song

Dulong language is called "door rent", which means tune, and it is a general term for various folk tunes. Each song can sing a wider theme. Different accents have not yet formed a clear song title, and can only be classified from the lyrics content and singing form. Common songs include narrative songs, folk songs, love songs, labor songs and sacrifice songs.

Dulong people love singing and dancing, and are especially good at expressing their thoughts and feelings through singing and dancing, and pouring out their inner joys and sorrows. On holidays, weddings, funerals, building houses, celebrating harvest and other important occasions, we should sing and dance and sing the opposite. Most ballads are emotional, concise and lively.

Generally, it can be divided into two categories: one is called "Pu", the language is subtle and difficult to understand, the number of words is neat, and the upper and lower sentences are the same but opposite. When singing, you can be poetic, dance and sing, and walk through the songs. Due to different contents, it can be divided into Old Club Pu sung during the New Year, Carl Jiangpu sung during the New Year, Qiu Mupu sung when building a new house, and Asip sung when sending the deceased to the funeral. The other is called "door bamboo", which is easy to understand and has a lot of production and life color. These two kinds of ballads are in the form of duet, chorus and solo, and they are the most popular artistic activities in the life of Dulong people.

Because the environment is extremely closed and far away from the mainland, Dulong was still in the disintegration stage of the primitive commune until the middle of this century. People mainly plant, hunt and gather, wearing linen woven from their own yarns, and a few people cover it with leaves and skins. Women also advocate the custom of tattooing.