Yi people's customs and habits

In order to meet the needs of survival and development, the customs and habits of the Yi people have long branched out. According to historical records, after thousands of years of admiration, six schools of Wu, Zha, Nuo, Heng, Bu and Mu emerged. These six ancestors (branches) migrated to Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou for long-term development and reproduction. There are many branches of the Yi people, and now they are divided into larger branches according to their own opinions, such as Ashi, Sani, Azhe, Wu Luo, Tu Su and Sunuo. Liangshan Yi society has a unique social structure-family branch. A branch is a people's association linked by paternal blood. In the long-term historical development, Liangshan Yi society has never formed a relatively stable and unified political organization. Jiazhi is the grass-roots social organization of Yi society, which plays the role of local political organization to a certain extent. Generally speaking, families are divided into black families and white families. Before liberation, the family branch corresponded to the hierarchy of slave society, with the family branch of men in black dominating and the family branch of people in white belonging to the family branch of men in black. The branches of the family in black are not unified, and a branch of the family in black is a small local kingdom. Besides being attached to and subordinate to the Black Yi, the Bai Yi family branch also has the function of protecting its own interests under certain conditions. The lowest Wajia and Xiaxi do not have their own family branches (a few Wajia have family branches). Family branch occupies a very important position in Yi society. Yi people say, "Monkey * wood, Yi people * family branch." "No sheep, no food, no family support." Each family branch has a different number of leaders, which are called "Degu" and "Suyi" in Yi language. These leaders are not from election and appointment, nor are they hereditary, but they are recognized by society and families because they are eloquent, proficient in customary law, good at weighing the forces of various classes and families in daily life, have experience in resolving disputes and handle affairs fairly. Of course, if there is "eccentricity and injustice" in handling affairs and resolving disputes, it will lose its leadership position.

After liberation, slavery and its hierarchical system in Yi areas were completely abolished. As the former ruling group, the political and economic status of men in black and their family branches was destroyed, and the vast number of people in white, "Wajia" and "Xiaxi" were liberated and turned over as masters. The white family no longer belongs to the black family. Although there was a people's government after liberation, the consciousness and function of family support have not completely disappeared, and it still plays a role in all aspects of society. Yi people have the habit of father and son's surname, and each family branch has a genealogy of father and son's surname passed down from generation to generation.

The marriage form of Yi nationality is mainly monogamy. In Liangshan area where people live in concentrated communities, the customs of family-supported marriage, hierarchical marriage, buying and selling marriage and arranged marriage by parents are serious, and the marriage customs of giving priority to marrying aunts and uncles, not marrying aunts, and stealing marriage without leaving in-laws have always been preserved. There is no age limit for marriage, and early marriage is prevalent.

The Yi people have their own traditional festivals, and in areas where they live together with the Han people and other ethnic groups, the Yi people also have their own festivals because of the long-term influence of the Han people and other ethnic groups.

Torch Festival is the most common and grand traditional festival in Yi area, usually on June 24th or 25th in the summer calendar. Different regions have different legends about the origin of this ancient festival. A more common legend is that there was a Hercules Sjelabi in the ancient sky. He heard that there was a strongman, Attila Ba, so he went to earth to wrestle with Attila Ba. As a result, Srirabi lost. After calling back to the gods, the gods were furious and sent pests to the world to destroy crops. On June 24th, Attila called on people to light the Song Ming to drive away insects. As a result, the pests were driven away and God was defeated. In order to commemorate the victory over the gods, from now on, every year to today, we must raise a fire to celebrate. Every Torch Festival, the Yi people, men, women and children, should put on their festive costumes, beat livestock, offer spiritual cards, dance, sing, race horses and wrestle. In the evening, we walked around the house and fields with torches, and then got together to light a bonfire and dance.

The Year of the Yi Nationality (called "Winter Moon Year" in Guizhou and some Yi areas in northeast Yunnan, and "October Year" in Liangshan) is also an important traditional ethnic festival of the Yi nationality. A long time ago, the Yi calendar lasted for ten months, and the traditional Chinese New Year date in this area was different from that of the Han nationality. Later, due to the influence of the Han nationality, most Yi people use the lunar calendar (summer calendar) to calculate the year, and celebrate the Spring Festival in the first month of the summer calendar every year. However, some Yi people in Sichuan, Yunnan, Liangshan, Guizhou and northeastern Yunnan still retain their own traditional Spring Festival festivals.

In addition, there are some festivals, such as "Worship the Lord" of the Yi people in Dali, Yunnan, "Mizhi Festival" in Lunan and Maitreya, "Yangmei Festival", "Dance Song Festival", "Harvest Festival" and "Tangniu Festival" in other areas.

Historically, the Yi people mainly carried out cremation after their death, but before liberation, except Liangshan area in Sichuan and Yunnan, other Yi areas were influenced by the Han nationality and other ethnic groups, and coffin burial was gradually carried out since the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

After the death of Yi people in Liangshan, Sichuan and Yunnan, their families wore black and white and blue mourning clothes on the board of the mortuary, with their heads facing inward and their feet facing outward, and sent people everywhere to send condolences to relatives and friends. When the number of households stops, please "Bimo" read the guide sutra (also translated as the opening sutra and the guide sutra) and choose an auspicious day to burn firewood. Cremation places are usually in the mountains or forests near the village. Each family branch has one or several relatively fixed crematoriums. When burning a corpse, it is auspicious to put the corpse together with the morgue wooden frame on pine and light it below, and burn it into ashes at one time, such as extinguishing it halfway or setting wood as unlucky. After cremation, some directly bury the ashes with soil, others put them in clay pots or white cloth bags and hide them in caves with few people. If you lose your family, you should sacrifice cattle, sheep and pigs to the deceased and entertain guests. At the same time, close relatives and friends should bring cows, sheep and pigs to sacrifice. Losing a family is proud of beating more livestock, while the rich beat dozens of cows.