Where are the areas where Miao people are concentrated? What are local customs and national habits?

Mainly living in the southeast of Guizhou Province, Damiaoshan, Hainan Island and the border areas of Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. In China's ancient books, there are records of Miao ancestors as early as 5,000 years ago, that is, clans and tribes from the Yellow River valley to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which are called "Nan Man".

Miao nationality has its own language, which is divided into three dialects: Xiangxi, Qiandong and Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan. After 1956, the Latin alphabet writing scheme was designed. Due to the long-term contact between Miao and Han, a large number of Miao people are fluent in and use Chinese.

Agriculture is dominant in Miao areas, supplemented by hunting. Miao people's arts and crafts such as flower picking, embroidery, brocade, batik, paper cutting and handcraft are magnificent and colorful, and they are well-known at home and abroad. Among them, the batik process of Miao nationality has a history of thousands of years.

There are more than 130 kinds of Miao costumes, which can be compared with the costumes of any nation in the world. Miao nationality is a nation that can sing and dance well, especially love songs and wine songs. Lusheng is the most representative musical instrument of Miao nationality.

custom

Miao people attach great importance to etiquette. When guests visit, they will kill chickens and ducks to entertain guests. If you are a distinguished guest from afar, the Miao people are used to inviting guests to drink croissant first. When eating chicken, the head of the chicken should be given to the older guests, and the drumsticks should be given to the youngest guests. In some places, there is also the custom of dividing chicken hearts, that is, the oldest owner in the family gives chicken hearts or duck hearts to the guests with chopsticks, and the guests can't eat them themselves, so they must divide the chicken hearts equally among the old people present. If the guest drinks less and doesn't like fat meat, it can explain the situation. If the host is not reluctant, but dissatisfied with eating and drinking, it is considered to look down on the host.

marriage customs

Glutinous rice is also an essential food for young men and women to fall in love and get married. Miao people in Chengbu, Hunan Province gave each other glutinous rice cakes painted with mandarin ducks as souvenirs. When the wedding is held, the bride and groom will raise their glasses to propose a toast, and the person in charge of the wedding will also invite the bride and groom to eat glutinous rice cakes painted with dragons, phoenixes and dolls.

Dietary customs

In most areas, Miao people have three meals a day, and rice is the staple food. Dry the rice first, pour it into the gravy, remove the rice bran and eat it now, 3-5 kg each time. Now many places have used electricity and water to grind rice.

Fried Baba is the most common fried food. Deep-fried Baba is made by soaking glutinous rice and a small amount of soybeans, beating them into slurry, then scooping the beaten thick slurry into a mold made of iron sheet and frying them in boiling oil to get golden yellow. If you add some fresh meat and sauerkraut as stuffing, the taste will be more delicious.

Most meat comes from livestock and poultry farming. Miao people in Sichuan and Yunnan all like to eat dog meat, and there is a saying that "Miao's dog is Yi's wine". Dog meat is hot, which has the functions of warming stomach, strengthening stomach and nourishing food. In addition to animal oil, Miao people's edible oils are mostly tea oil and vegetable oil. Pepper is the main condiment, and in some areas there is even a saying that it is inseparable from pepper.

There are many kinds of Miao vegetables. Common vegetables are beans, melons, greens and radishes. Most Miao people are good at making bean products. Miao people living in high mountain areas like to cook vegetables into mussels with white water. Sichuan Miao people also make soybean milk into tofu pudding to entertain guests.

Miao people everywhere generally like to eat sauerkraut, and sour soup is a must for every family. Sour soup is rice soup or tofu water, fermented in a crock for 3-5 days, and then used to cook fish and vegetables. In summer in southeastern Guizhou, when guests enter the door, the host always sends sour soup first, and then drinks it to quench their thirst.

The food preservation of Miao people generally adopts pickling method, and vegetables, chickens, ducks and fish like to be pickled into sour taste. Almost every Miao family has a jar for curing food, which is collectively called a sour jar.

Miao nationality has a long history of brewing, and has a set of techniques from koji making, fermentation, distillation, blending and cellar storage. Sucking wine is unique. When drinking, the bamboo tube is inserted into the urn, and the drinker forms a circle along the urn. The elders drink first, and then go from left to right. After the wine juice is sucked, it can be washed into drinking water until it is tasteless. Once the altar is opened, the remaining wine, whether strong or weak, will not be used again.

Camellia oleifera is the most common daily drink. Miao people in Xiangxi also specially made a kind of scented tea. Besides tea, sour soup is also a common drink.

Typical foods mainly include: blood soup, Chili bone, Miaoxiang Guifeng soup, cotton vegetable cake, insect tea, scented tea, fish paste, sour soup fish and so on.

Holidays and festivals

Miao people used to believe in animism, worship nature and worship their ancestors. There are many festivals, besides traditional festivals and sacrificial festivals, there are also special festivals related to eating. Such as: duck festival, new year festival, fish killing festival, tea picking festival, etc. Besides preparing wine and meat, seasonal food is also essential for festivals.

Miao Nian Miao Nian usually starts from the first day of the first month and lasts for three, five or fifteen days. Years ago, every household should prepare rich new year's goods, besides killing pigs and sheep (cattle), they should also prepare enough glutinous rice wine. New Year's Eve dinner is rich, paying attention to "all seven colors" and "all five flavors", and making "rice cakes" with the best glutinous rice. Banquet and gift exchange

Most of the killing festivals are held by the river. Women bring rice, bacon, sausages and other dining tables. As long as they catch fish, they light a bonfire and cook fish in a pot until they enjoy themselves.

Drum Festival is the biggest ritual activity of Miao people. Generally, a small sacrifice lasts for seven years and a big sacrifice lasts for thirteen years. It is held on the second day of October to November in the lunar calendar. At that time, a roe deer will be killed and a Lusheng dance will be performed to commemorate the ancestors. Invite friends and relatives to get together during meals to enhance feelings and family harmony.

Glutinous rice is an essential food for Miao festivals and social activities. In many areas, Miao people often make glutinous rice noodles into glutinous rice balls, which is also a kind of food during festivals. No matter the wedding or funeral, tables, sour meat and sour fish must be prepared, otherwise it will be considered impolite.

Lusheng culture

Autumn is a good time for Miao people to make lusheng. At this time, Miao boys cut off the golden bamboo from the mountain and began to cut bamboo, make springs and hoop it. Therefore, a new generation of Lusheng players made handfuls of Lusheng with different sizes, playing melodious tunes, which attracted the laughter and favor of girls.

Lusheng is a traditional Lusheng musical instrument of Miao nationality, which is widely spread in Miao areas. According to documents, Lusheng has a history of more than 3,000 years. As far back as the Tang Dynasty, Lusheng was played in the court. At that time, Lusheng was called "Pu Sheng". In his book Tunxi Fiber Record, Lu Ciyun, a man of the Qing Dynasty, gave a detailed description of the shape of Lusheng and the scene of Miao men and women playing Lusheng when they jumped on the moon: "(Male) holds Lusheng. Hold six tubes and make two feet. ..... Staggered sheng festival, blowing and singing, hands flying, feet lifting, staring back, swinging. At first, I wanted to pack up and leave, dancing and rushing away. " This shows the role and position of Lusheng in the life of ancient Miao people. At present, the shape of Lusheng has undergone great changes, which can be divided into three types: large, medium and small. It consists of a sheng tube, a sheng bucket and a reed. There are 6 commonly used Lusheng pipes, with sound holes on the outside and copper springs at the lower end, which are inserted into a long wooden gourd, with one sound per spring. A bamboo tube is sleeved at the upper end of every two or three sheng tubes as a sound tube. The tube length of the small Lusheng is more than ten centimeters, and the big Lusheng is four or five meters long. Bass Lusheng class, a thin bamboo tube is installed in a big bamboo tube, which is called "Lusheng tube" by speakers. Now, after the reform, the number of sheng pipes has increased to more than 20, and the upper end of each pipe is a * * * sounding pipe made of thin copper, with a range of two octaves and five degrees. Lusheng is loud and powerful, and can be played by both men and women. Whenever Chinese New Year is celebrated, weddings are held and houses are built, people always hold lusheng in their hands, singing and dancing to express their joy.

Since ancient times, Lusheng has been dancing as a play, playing and dancing. However, according to the different customs in different regions, the performance of Lusheng is also different. The scale of "Treading on Lusheng" in Miao nationality areas in southeastern Guizhou is huge, and the Lusheng music played by Lusheng team is rich, musical, magnificent and touching. When playing, Lusheng players skillfully make difficult movements such as handstand, somersault, hanging, back climbing, pole climbing, and overlapping arhats. Lusheng solo dance and duet are common in some areas, with bright melody, free rhythm, skillful and fascinating. In some areas, Lusheng is small, and men play female dances, with a smooth and soothing rhythm, which is intriguing. These lusheng skills with different customs and customs have gathered into a bunch of artistic wonders with national characteristics, which have been passed down from generation to generation and will never decline.

In addition, Lusheng is not only a simple national musical instrument, but also an important "medium" for Miao young men and women to get married. Through it, young people in their prime can get to know each other, fall in love and get married. Whenever the wind is clear and the moon is bright, affectionate teenagers hold their beloved lusheng in their hands and play melodious love songs. Hearing this, the girls got the message and faced each other with crisp songs. This way of love is incomprehensible to laymen, but self-evident to insiders. Therefore, Lusheng is sacred and precious in the eyes of Miao people, and every family can't live without it.

Huayi silver shop

If the well-dressed Miao girls get together, it will definitely become a beautiful silver world. It is the nature of Miao girls to like to wear silver ornaments. They tied a bun on their heads, about 20 cm high, and made a beautiful silver corolla. There are six jagged silver wings inserted in front of the corolla, most of which are the patterns of two dragons playing with beads. In some areas, in addition to silver pieces, silver horns with a height of about 1 m are inserted into the silver crown, and the tips of the horns float in color, which makes them more noble and rich. There is a silver ribbon at the lower edge of the silver crown, and a row of small silver pendants hang down. The silver collar worn around the neck has several layers, mostly made of silver pieces and small silver rings. Wearing a silver lock and a silver collar on his chest, wearing a silver cloak on his chest and back, and hanging many small silver bells. Earrings and bracelets are all made of silver. Only the two sleeves are embroidered with lux as the main tone, but the cuffs are also inlaid with a wide circle of silver ornaments. The costumes of Miao girls often weigh several kilograms, and some have been accumulated and passed down by generations. Known as "a fairy dressed in strange clothes and wrapped in white." The craftsmanship of Miao silver ornaments is gorgeous, exquisite and ingenious, which fully shows the wisdom and talent of Miao people.

Miao girls' skirts are called pleated skirts, but in fact there are more than 500 pleats on a skirt, and there are many layers, some as many as thirty or forty layers. These skirts, from weaving, dyeing, sewing to final drawing and embroidery, were all done by the girls themselves. Coupled with embroidered ribbons and flower chest pockets, it is really colorful and beautiful.

Dirty knot

There are many Miao festivals, including hundreds in different places every year. Common festivals include Chinese New Year Festival, Eating New Valley Festival, Lusheng Festival, April 8th Festival, Catch Autumn Festival, Eating Sisters' Meal Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. However, the oldest and most magical festival is the dirty festival that has not happened for several years.

Zang Festival, also known as Drum Club Festival, Drum Festival and Drum Festival, is a grand traditional festival of sacrifice in Miao areas. The cycle of festivals varies from place to place. Some festivals are held once every 3 years, 5 years, 7 years, 9 years, 1 1 year, 13 years, and some festivals are held once every 30 years. Because of the huge cost, most of them are held once by 1 1 or 13. This festival usually lasts from the end of September to the beginning of November in the lunar calendar.

Thousands of Miao villages in Xijiang River, Leishan County, Guizhou Province, the largest Miao village in China, have a dirty sacrifice every 13 years, and the most recent one is on September 22nd of the 1986 (Year of the Tiger) lunar calendar. Two years ago, Tongzong Village jointly elected a drum master, commonly known as Ghost Dirty Head, and a respected old man held a room full of children and grandchildren. The drum master presided over the preparations for providing drum supplies. First, cows are chosen for sacrifice, and they are well fed, not for service. On the auspicious day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the drums used in the previous session were carried back to the village from the Tibetan drum cave and placed in the drum field, which was called "awakening drums". Then cut down the big nanmu to make a new drum, carry it into the Tibetan drum hole, announce the opening of the new drum and abandon the old drum. On the Dunzang Festival, cattle were killed in the drum field to sacrifice drums, with horns and head and forehead bones as the main sacrifices. 13 days later, 30,000 to 40,000 people from all ethnic groups gathered together will have to step on the Lusheng for 7 to 9 days. Sacrificial bronze drums, which are not allowed to be used at ordinary times, should also be accompanied by songs and dances, which is called jumping bronze drums.

If you kill pigs on holidays, you should say "pro-official"; Take a knife and say "with leaves"; Cooking pigs with straw should be said to be "covering officials with quilts"; Eat and say "Man Cang Man Ku"; Open the pig's brain and say "open the warehouse door" In short, speak with wealth and good luck.

Jump the bronze drum and step on the lusheng at the same time. Most of the bronze drum fields are middle-aged and elderly people, and most of the Lusheng fields are young men and women. Boys who play lusheng should take turns leading the dance for the girls. The girls are dressed in silver and form a big circle with three layers inside and three layers outside, dancing and dancing. Young men can ask their favorite girls for flowers in the last two days when they step on Lusheng. Girls even wear expensive silver collars, watches and so on. As souvenirs of their loved ones. Every time they feel this way, the audience will cheer and congratulate them sincerely. There are two barrels of rice wine in the center of Tonggu field. Two young men were holding a big trumpet cup full of wine, banging on the trumpet with bamboo sticks, and choosing a toast among the dancers. The selected person should pour the cup and drink it, and can't pick it up with his hands, otherwise he will start all over again. This method of drinking water is called "feeding cows" because cows are highly respected.

"Dirty Festival" is generally not held easily, because the next year is very long. Therefore, whenever festivals come, people are extremely excited. In order to watch this magical traditional festival, there are often crowds of people on the dirty field.

Touma Miaoshan

Guangxi Rongshui Damiao Mountain is majestic and beautiful. In an open-air dam at the foot of the mountain, people cheered and watched the unique Touma competition.

Touma is a folk entertainment activity of Miao people in Guangxi, which is held on February 26th every year for three days.

On the first day of 1, people were busy releasing water in the fields to catch fish and cooking fresh fish porridge to taste new things; Steamed glutinous rice, brewed sweet wine, slaughtered chickens and ducks, and entertained relatives and friends from afar.

The second stop is Touma, and the third stop is horse racing. Touma is a very attractive race. At about 10 in the morning, after a row of "Shanchong" earth cannons sounded, Lusheng played loudly, lion dragons danced up and down, followed by mighty cavalry, and triumphantly entered the racecourse. Dressed in costumes, Miao, Yao and Dong girls hold ribbons in a circle outside Lusheng's hand and dance with the rhythm of Lusheng. On the racecourse, there are many good horses, and dozens of good horses selected are plump and strong, eager to play outside. As soon as the referee announced Touma's list, the two teams each took out a horse and untied the rope. Two horses pounced on each other, with their feet in the air, biting each other, or suddenly turned around and cocked their hind feet and kicked each other hard. The fierce and interesting fighting scenes caused cheers and applause from the surrounding audience from time to time. After several rounds of duel, smoke billowed, sediment splashed on the field, and a horse fell to the ground or failed to win. Then he led two other horses into the arena. Duel each other in cycles and finally determine the top three winners. At this time, people gathered around, admiring the sweaty winning horses and praising them greatly. The owner of the winning horse also accepted people's congratulations with a big smile. Surrounded by the crowd, the organizer dressed the winning horse in red and awarded prizes to the owner of the horse.

Horse racing is a severe test of the rider's courage and skills. In the Miao mountainous area, the mountain is high and the road is steep, and the narrow path is rugged. It requires contestants to be bold and cautious and skilled in riding. At the beginning of the race, the riders ran five or six meters away and jumped into the air. There is no saddle on the back of the horse, and the rider has the horse between his legs, and the horse gallops forward on the winding mountain road. The thrilling scene is eye-catching. The first rider to reach the finish line was praised and rewarded.

In those days in Touma, both boys and girls were very active. They concentrated on the hillside and carried out activities such as playing Lusheng and "stepping on the hall". More than 20,000 people of all ethnic groups from Guizhou and nearby villages attended the grand event in Touma. Many of them also brought the exchange of local products such as mushrooms, fungus, leather, medicinal materials and dried bamboo shoots, which added a warm atmosphere.