The customs of the Barrow people

There is a stone in Barrow village. You can't touch, move or sit on it. Every village has trees, so it is forbidden to cut them down. Every year, we collectively circle the sacred stone and the sacred tree three times, killing chickens, putting food and drinking sacrifices. People in most tribes worship abrupt boulders and strange trees, believing that they are the habitats of stone gods and tree gods. During the New Year, spring sowing and autumn harvest, there are three kinds of sacrificial activities, each of which is provided by chicken hunting. The villagers regarded these stones and trees as scourges and were terrified.

When castrating a pig, the owner plants fresh branches at the door and forbids strangers to enter for three days. During the period, you are not allowed to borrow anything, and you are not allowed to bring things like skin and hair from the kitchen. Keepers are not allowed to go near stoves, firewood and cookers for three days, and they are not allowed to say "dead" or "nothing".

Children are born, cows, pigs and dogs have children, people are sick and hunting, taboo trees are inserted in front of the door, and outsiders are forbidden to enter for three days; When relatives and friends from other villages come, they should ask the host's permission at the door, say "no ghosts" three times, and the host will accompany the guests into the house. Entering without the owner's consent is regarded as possessing ghosts and disrespecting the owner, and will be driven away or even cause a fight.

Hunting dogs have made great contributions to the hunting of Barrow people. They regard dogs as their sons. The Barrow people keep more than a dozen hunting dogs. They don't bite or bark. They are friendly to people and fierce to animals. Guests are not allowed to beat and scold dogs, otherwise they are in danger of being expelled.

When building a house, the owner will shout three times: "People and animals are healthy, free from diseases and injuries, healthy from generation to generation, and food is Man Cang". Then scatter the mixed grain into the sky, do it very seriously and never laugh.

Pigs are regarded as the leaders of domestic animals and the main animals that are often sacrificed. Therefore, they are favored, and it is forbidden to defecate in pig pits.

Deification and worship of animals are common phenomena in primitive religion. Animals are the main objects that people depend on from bottom to top, but some people are opposed to people. People's sacrifices and taboos to poisonous snakes and beasts are more frequent. Snakes and tigers in some tribes are totems, and no harm is allowed. Bitten by poisonous snakes, regardless of relatives and friends, stop work 1 day, and it is forbidden to go to places where vines grow, and it is forbidden to eat vines, spicy food and some meat.

There are many taboos in agricultural production. From slash-and-burn to autumn harvest, there were five collective sacrifices and three individual sacrifices. Labor is forbidden on the day of sacrifice, and offenders are whipped by the leader.

The people of Barrow are an unlocked people. Stealing and lying are the ugliest and most abominable things in the world. If this happens, one is education; The second is repayment; The third is to drive away; For repeat offenders, make an example of them.

There are also many taboos in the dream: dreaming of killing cows, pigs, sunsets, getting married, falling into the water, falling off a cliff, being bitten by snakes, being bitten by rats, and cows hitting shelves. It indicates that family members will die, disasters will happen and they will not go out the next day. Dream of vines, be careful for ten days, afraid of disputes. On the contrary, dreaming of the dead is a good sign.

Barrow people also have the habit of remembering their zodiac signs, which represent twelve years. Rats and horses, dogs and dragons, pigs and snakes, chickens and rabbits, monkeys and tigers, cows and sheep are mutually dependent and cannot marry. The life customs of the Barrow nationality are deeply influenced by Tibetans, and the daily diet and food preparation methods are basically the same as those in Tibetan agricultural areas. I like to eat barbecue, dried meat, milk residue, buckwheat cakes, especially rice dumplings cooked in corn, and I like to eat Chili. Vegetables include Chinese cabbage, rape, pumpkin, round root (turnip) and potato. Generally addicted to alcohol, besides highland barley wine, he often drinks corn wine. Barrow hunting is generally used to extracting venom from wild plants and painting it on arrows to shoot wild animals. Hunting activities are mostly carried out in groups, and the hunted wild animals are equally divided.

Due to the scattered living and inconvenient transportation of the Barrow nationality, the date of the festival varies from place to place, and it is generally set after the annual labor. Therefore, the festival to celebrate the new year contains the meaning of celebrating the harvest, welcoming the new year and bidding farewell to the old year. On the eve of Chinese New Year's Eve, every household has to pound rice to make wine, kill pigs and sheep, and wealthy families have to kill cows. Barrow people in Ximeng call New Year's Day "Tiaogeng Gulu" Festival, when the slaughtered pigs, cattle and mutton will be cut into pieces with their skins and distributed to their own people. Many places still retain the ancient custom of "clan gathering". On holidays, residents in the village should bring wine and meat, and the whole village, men, women and children, sit around the ground, or drink or eat meat, singing and laughing constantly, and carry out various entertainment activities. Before the guests eat, the host should have a glass of wine and a bite of rice to show that the food is non-toxic and sincere to the guests. If guests come from far away, Barrow people will also take out their favorite dried meat, barbecue, milk residue, corn wine, buckwheat cakes and peppers for entertainment. Barrow parents decide their children's lifelong events.

At the wedding, the bride and groom will kill the chicken three times. The first time, I killed two chickens hanging from the hanging beam of the newly built wooden door in front of the groom's cabin. After killing the chicken, take out the chicken liver and give it to Master Loba. The wizard licked the chicken liver with his tongue, and then licked the chicken liver, so as to judge whether the couple's future fate is good or bad, and whether their life span is long or short. The second time, I killed the chicken hanging on the bamboo frame made of eight bamboo poles in the yard, or took out the liver to the wizard. From this, the wizard can determine the order and number of new children in the future. The third time, kill two chickens at the groom's house. The woman with Barrow's children introduced the couple to the groom's cabin and began to kill chickens. The difference this time is to kill pigs, first pigs, then chickens. Luopa people pay special attention to the mourning for the dead, trying to comfort the dead and express their condolences and nostalgia. Lopa people mostly use burial and tree burial, with complicated customs and numerous taboos to show filial piety. Most Barrow people practice burial, also called gold burial, because there is gold in the soil. Dig a rectangular grave, tamp it with stones, leave no footprints, and put it in the rattan mat and square wooden pillow laid by the deceased before his death.

After the death of a patient, it is usually taken care of by the person who carried the body. Turning the dead man's head outward means that he has "gone" after his death. People should not say the word "dead", but generally call it "gone", "old", "dead" or "gone". When bathing the dead, mugwort leaves and bay leaves are usually used in the bath water to wash them from beginning to end. Shrouds don't need fur and satin, lest they become beasts in the afterlife. The number of clothes and trousers, avoiding single happiness and double happiness, is mostly 2 tops and 4 trousers skirts, all of which should be mainly cotton. When entering the tomb, untie the rope of the deceased, straighten his body, and put his head west in the into the pit. The funerary objects are all things he used before his death, such as bows and arrows, decorations, utensils and so on. A wooden fence was built around the cemetery, and a straw shed was built on it. The horn hunted by the hunter is put in the shed, and food and wine are delivered once a day in the morning and evening, usually for seven days or a month. Light a bonfire every night.

Tree burial was immediately called celestial burial. Body disposal is the same as burial, and no meat can be exposed. Put the fetus-shaped body in his rattan basket and hang it on the branch at the head of the village according to the deceased's wishes. Build a straw shed to shelter from the rain and sun. According to the Barrow people, everything in the world has elves. Although people are dead, their bodies rot and become worms, and their souls go to the "Elysium" and become something with elves, such as hanging coffins, so that they can be reborn early and quickly and become rich and good.

The undertakers of several burial methods are generally represented by relatives. When parents die, the son will take care of them and the wife will take care of them. If there is no suitable person at home, relatives and friends will take it back, or when the deceased dies, please ask someone or someone designated by the deceased. People of the same age and age as the deceased are not allowed to carry the corpse. If there are no other people, the body must be carried by the above-mentioned personnel. So, the right face of the corpse carrier was painted white, the left face was painted black, and a woman's necklace was hung. The right trouser leg is rolled out of the thigh, but the left leg is not rolled, allowing the corpse to be carried. Send a funeral and ask someone to kill a chicken for divination and choose an auspicious day. On the day of burial, the whole village stopped work for one day and came to attend the funeral and comfort the spirits. The way to carry the corpse is back to back. The person carrying the corpse holds a stick and slaps it while walking to avoid ghosts following.

A month after the burial, the married daughter, the lost son and relatives brought wine broilers to the deceased's home to comfort them. A year later, the children of the deceased left home to catch a cow, and two cows came out of the deceased's house. Every household in the village is carrying a gourd of white wine and sweet wine, and the villagers drink rice. Horn was sent to the grave to express his condolences. After the death of parents and elders, children can't get married without earrings and other decorations within one year, and wives can't get a haircut within one year. They can't tie red lines on their foreheads, arrange flowers on their heads or remarry.

After the corpse carrier came back, the owner lit a fire at the door, dipped a branch with some corn flour and white wine, baked it for a while, hit the corpse carrier three times, and then washed his face and hands. After entering the room, you are only allowed to sit in the place where the deceased sleeps, and you are not allowed to touch the extremely beloved hearth stone with your hands, because it is the embodiment of the kitchen god, and you are only allowed to sleep in the place where the deceased sleeps at night. Don't talk about "less", "nothing" and "death" for three days. On the third day, people who carry corpses can move freely like family members. On the third day and 10 day after the corpse is carried, the person carrying the corpse will go to the river to take a bath, and can't go hunting in the mountains until 15 days later. Within a year, people who carry corpses can't eat potatoes, peas, walnuts, peaches, radishes and livestock hooves. When eating, the person carrying the corpse should pray first and invite the soul of the deceased to eat. Within a year, people who carry bodies can't take the main road, they can only take the path. Lu Yu people should make way, don't laugh, don't look at other people's faces. In short, people are very jealous of people who carry corpses, thinking that they are inferior, unlucky and possessed by ghosts. So, avoid everywhere, dislike him and treat him coldly. Therefore, most people don't want to carry a corpse.