Brief introduction of Wa nationality

Brief introduction of Wa nationality

Wa nationality is a unique minority in Yunnan Province, mainly distributed in Cangyuan, Ximeng, Gengma, Shuangjiang, Zhenkang, Yongde, Lancang and Yu Lian in southwest Yunnan, and some of them are scattered in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and Dehong Autonomous Prefecture. 35 1 000 people, including 654380+0,800 people in Ximeng and Cangyuan Autonomous County. Originally known as "Wa nationality", 1963, it was renamed with the approval of the State Council.

Wa nationality area is located between Lancang River and salween, in the southern section of Nushan Mountains. The mountains overlap and there are few flat dams, so it is called Ava Mountain. The mountainous area has a complex climate and rich economic trees. Deep in the forest, there are precious wild animals such as elephants, tigers, leopards, bears, deer and wild boar.

Wa people call themselves "Wa", which is a branch of "Hundred Steps" in Zhou and Qin Dynasties. In Qing Dynasty, there were different names such as Gaci, Hawa and Kawa. After the founding of New China, it was collectively called Wa nationality, which means "people who live in the mountains".

Wa people have their own language, belonging to the Wa branch of the Mon-Khmer language family in South Asia. In the past, woodcuts and physical records were used for a long time. Wa characters were created in 1950s.

Wa people are mainly engaged in agriculture, like drinking and chewing betel nuts. Chewing betel nut makes many people dye their red lips, which is beautiful. Drinking utensils are mostly made of bamboo tubes. On holidays, weddings, funerals and entertaining guests, we should toast according to traditional etiquette, so there is a saying that "no wine is no gift".

Wa people can sing and dance well. Common dances are "circle dance" and "flashing dance". The "circle dance" does not distinguish between men, women and children. The dancers are holding hands, singing and dancing, and the atmosphere is very warm.

Wa history

The legend of "Four Gangli" is widely circulated in Wa areas. The Wa people in Ximeng explained that "Sigang" is a cave, and "Li" came out, indicating that human beings came out of the cave very early. Legend has it that the Wa people first came out of caves. The cave is located in the middle of Awa Mountain, about 60 miles west of Ximeng County. Up to now, Wa people in Ximeng and other places regard caves as "holy places". The Wa people in Cangyuan explained that "Sigang" is a gourd, and when "Li" comes out, it means that people come out of the gourd.

Although the Wa people in different areas have different interpretations of "Sigangli", they all regard Awa Mountain as the birthplace of mankind, and at the same time they all reflect that they are the earliest residents in Awa Mountain area. "Sigangli" is the memory of Wa people living in ancient caves.

Wa music

About 266,000 Wa people live in Yunnan Province. Wa people have their own scripts based on Latin letters. Their language belongs to the Mon-Khmer language family of South Asian language family, and the Wa people believe in primitive religion.

Wa people are famous for singing and dancing. On major religious festivals, people dressed in costumes sang and danced for days on end, accompanied by wooden drums, bamboo drums and Hulusheng, depicting Wa people singing and dancing in front of bamboo buildings.

Wa etiquette

Wa people are generous and hospitable, and treat guests with wine first, thinking that there is no wine as a gift. Wa people have various customs of entertaining guests and toasting. One is that the host of the toast takes a sip from himself first to dispel the various warnings of the guests, and then hands it to the guests in turn. Guests must drink the wine offered to them and try their best to dry it to show honesty, otherwise it will be regarded as disrespect for the host; Another form is that both the host and the guest are squatting on the ground, and the host hands the wine to the guest with his right hand. After the guest takes it with his right hand, he touches the ground slightly or bounces the wine on the ground with his right hand to show respect for his ancestors. Then the host and the guests drink together. Wa people have the habit of not toasting without knowing their heart. Whenever the son goes out and the guest leaves, the host will also send a "farewell gift". That is, to propose a toast to relatives or guests. At that time, the host will use a gourd (a container for holding wine) to hold wine, take a sip first, and then send it to distant guests or relatives. Guests need to drink all the gourds to show that their feelings and friendship will never be forgotten.

Wa people celebrate this festival.

In the past, Wa people generally believed in animism. In some areas, Wa people believed in Buddhism, and almost all festivals were accompanied by sacrificial activities. In addition to killing chickens and pigs, traditional sacrificial activities also require unique cattle hunting. For example, on the Sowing Festival (March in the Gregorian calendar), the whole village gets together for a cattle race, and the cattle race ceremony is presided over by the owner who donated the cattle. At that time, the owner will kill the cow by stabbing it in the heart with a shovel, and then distribute the beef evenly to customers to worship their ancestors. Cow bones belong to their owners, and cow bones are regarded as a symbol of wealth. After the ancestor worship ceremony, the whole family had lunch and began to sow dry valleys.

"Nanni Collapse" is a New Year festival to celebrate the New Year. It should be held on Memorial Day in the last month of the calendar year. At four o'clock that night, the leaders of the whole village, young and middle-aged, will gather at the Wangs' house and chip in to buy a pig and a chicken for slaughter. Every family will bring a pot of glutinous rice and a piece of Baba and give them a small table. After that, they exchanged gifts and congratulated each other. At dawn, they worship the sacred tree, start hunting and catch fish and shrimp in order to make good luck in the new year.

Other festivals, such as catching the New Water Festival, lighting a new fire, pulling wooden drums and other activities, should kill chickens and pigs for sacrifice. Among them, the sacrifice of Lamuye leaves is great, and the whole process takes more than ten days. The whole family needs to buy wine to celebrate. Before and after pulling wood leaves, you are not allowed to eat ginger. You can use banana leaves for rice, bowls and chopsticks.

Religious beliefs and festivals

In the past, the Wa people's religious ceremonies all started with offering water, and they always prayed to ensure that people would have water to eat in the coming year and the weather would be good. When the water was offered, all the men in the village attended. The priest prayed for the newly introduced water, received the first tube of water, and then used the first tube of new water to cook at Wolang's house, which was in charge of water management. Some families also hold separate sacrifices to pray for water for themselves. In addition to providing water, an ancient new fire ceremony is held in the village every year. Take a fire in Nuoliang, Cangyuan County, put a cannon to celebrate when the new fire is lit, and then take a lit torch to light a fire at home. In addition, sowing, hunting, etc. Must be held to burn and cut sacrifices. In case of natural disasters, cows will be sacrificed.

Before liberation, the most important religious activities of the Wa nationality were "pulling wooden drums", "cutting ox tails" and "headhunting for offering sacrifices to the valley".

Wooden drum was originally a musical drum used by the primitive clan of Wa nationality, and it was also a sacrificial vessel. Later, the wooden drum was used as an alarm in the war, accompanied by dance, and the drum was beaten as a horn when the masses were convened for deliberation. Wooden drums are deified and regarded as artifacts. Therefore, many villages have built wooden drum houses for wooden drums. The wooden drum house is a small shed with an adult-shaped roof, made of laminated bamboo sheets, similar to roof tiles. The house frame is made of horn fork and bamboo, without walls, and has a pair of wooden drums (male and female, the female drum is big, and the male drum is small). Some people put their heads in wooden drum rooms, wrapped them in sacks and tied them to wooden drum roofs. If a new head is killed, the old head will be sent to the concentrated head pile outside the gate. When offering sacrifices to ghosts, the priest will take the new head to the wooden drum room. The wooden drum house is really the original temple of the Wa people. Before sowing seeds every year, they have to play a cow sacrifice drum, and change a new drum once a year or three or four years. Wooden drums are made of thick trees, with thick ends as tails and thin ends as heads. Hollow out the upper two sides and dig a pair of wooden drums everywhere. Because the depth of digging varies from place to place, four different sounds can be made when knocking at the door. When replacing the new drum, the men and women in the village began to pull the new drum down the mountain together, and the Wa people called it "Lamu Drum". Religious ceremonies are held from making wooden drums to pulling wooden drums. Before we start making wooden drums, we should sacrifice cows. The priest should recite a mantra to the effect that we should pull the wooden drums back, behead them and sacrifice cows to you, hoping to protect our crops from foreign villages and live a good life. If we are bullied by a foreign village, we will take revenge. After the sacrifice, the head, limbs and neck of the cow were distributed to relatives, and the rest were shared equally with the participants. During the Mugu Festival, young men and women sang and danced day and night.

The Marriage Customs of Wa Nationality

The marriage of Wa nationality is monogamous, and polygamy is rare. In the past, the marriage of the Wa nationality was based on their free choice and the words of their parents. The main condition for Wa people to choose a spouse is whether the other person is strong, hardworking and simple, and looks the same, followed by family economic conditions. Wa people with the same surname do not get married. If people with the same surname have sex, it is considered a big violation and will offend the "social god." In this way, the social god will severely punish all the people in the village and impose various disasters, such as drought and flood, wind disaster, fire and disease. People with the same surname * *, or people with the same surname want to get married, the whole village will punish them with the ceremony of "sweeping the village" (removing it), and the social god will forgive them.

In the past, the Wa people thought that cousin marriage was the best marriage, and uncle's family had priority. On the issue of marriage, uncles have higher rights than parents. The marriage of the Wa people can only be free to fall in love through "stringing girls", and they can only get married if they are engaged. Weddings are usually held after autumn, but not after Spring Festival.

Wa boys generally began to "string girls" at the age of sixteen or seventeen. String girls can be a group activity or can be carried out alone. The place where girls sleep is not fixed either. Today, she sleeps at home, and tomorrow night, she and her partner sleep in another home. Sometimes she sleeps alone, and sometimes she sleeps in groups of 35/kloc-0. "String girls" means that the young man goes to the girl's residence to play. Girls should get up and sit with the boys who come to "string", whether they like it or not. If you don't sit with me, it will be considered rude. Generally, after 10 in the evening, young men string girls. At this time, if the girl is doing housework such as cutting pig food and cooking pig food, the boy will help. Old people don't interfere when they see young people coming. In fact, parents also like young people to string their girls together. Girls have to get married at a certain age. Parents will be unhappy if boys don't string their girls. If girls reach a certain age, their parents will also be worried. One is afraid that the girls will have an accident, and the other is afraid that their girls will marry in other villages. Wa people all like their daughters to marry the boys in this village. There is a good saying: "If you don't sprinkle good soup, a good girl can't marry in another village." String girls usually sit by the fireplace, laughing and laughing. It is considered immoral if a young man visits a girl's residence (bed). If it is late, the girl is already asleep. When the young man enters the room, he will light the fire first and then wake up the girl. After getting up, the girl sat by the fireplace. Just talking and laughing with that young man. It is impossible to fully express her feelings and demands, because there are several partners accompanying her. Then, the hope of all beings lies in combing their hair.

After the young men and women got to know each other, the young man patted his head and "invited" the little girl to comb his hair. If a girl is alone and there are several boys, the girl will comb several groups of hair in turn. If there are several girls and groups, the girl will choose who will comb her hair, or the boy will ask the girl he likes to comb her hair. Comb your hair under the gloomy eaves, and sit on a stool and whisper to each other. Generally, the young man speaks first and gives the girl all kinds of things, such as combs, towels, silver bracelets, earrings, rings or a few dollars. If the girl accepts it, she won't mind if the gift from the young man is valuable. This is just a symbol of true feelings and love. If the girl doesn't want to accept it, the boy will force it to her, so she has to keep it and return it to the boy in a few days, so that the boy won't be offended. Love between young Wa men and women is free. A young man can fall in love with several girls at the same time, and a little girl can also accept the courtship of several boys at the same time. After a long period of contact and mutual understanding, the young man decided that one of the girls was the most suitable and could break up with other girls. The little girl decided that the most satisfied young man would return all the gifts from other young people. Young Wa men and women get married through free love on the basis of mutual understanding. This is also one of the reasons why the Wa people are relatively strong in marriage (rarely divorced). As long as young men and women are congenial, parents can't stop them. If parents strongly object, two lovers can meet to escape from the stockade and spend a few days in the wild, "uncooked rice has been cooked", then both parents have no choice but to hold a wedding for them.

In the process of love, young men and women often dream of ending their love. Wa people think that when they are in love, if they dream of big Woods, banana forests, or running water in a sink, and dream of picking melons and fruits, they think it is a good omen and they will be happy after marriage. Because dreams are a good omen, love is closer. If a tree falls, a bridge breaks and is washed away by the water in dream of the tiger, or you dream of wearing new clothes and loving your lover, it is considered ominous and they can't get married. If you insist on getting married, it won't last long, so you must break up as soon as possible in the process of love. In the past, Wa people also had the custom of taking off Baotou. If a young man falls in love with a girl, he will take off the girl's head (of course, little girls also like young men), take it home, and announce to his parents that he can kill the chicken to see if it is good or bad for marriage.

Free love can get married after engagement. In the past, the marriage age of young Wa men and women was generally 20 years old for men and 0/8 years old for women. A girl's dowry is usually luggage, clothes, a backpack, a hoe, a sickle, a shovel and so on. There are also parents who give their daughter a bamboo, the woman's parents give her father a handkerchief and her mother a skirt as a courtesy. In some places, when getting married, the groom will give the woman's uncle a gift. Gifts are generally 50 points in 3 yuan or 50 points in 7 yuan, with an odd number. At the same time, you can add a pair of shoes, a handkerchief and a blanket. In some places, when getting married, the groom also gives the bride's mother milk money, because the girl grew up eating her mother's milk, and now the girl will marry someone else when she grows up, so it is a courtesy to give her mother some milk money.

Wa families have equal status in form. * * * maintains a complete family, but in fact, the idea of husband power is more prominent. In the family, agricultural production, textile, gathering, cooking and housework are all undertaken by women. Women have no right to dispose of family property, and are not allowed to participate in religious activities or participate in politics at home or in the village, even if they are present, they have no right to speak. Women can take part in social activities, such as singing minor tunes and playing music. As soon as a woman gets married, she must strictly observe women's morality, otherwise she will be abandoned by her husband. If the relationship between husband and wife breaks down, they can divorce. No matter which party files for divorce first, the woman can only go home empty-handed or accompanied by her family with a dowry. If there are children, who will raise them? The other party has no responsibility to raise them. In the past, the woman had to remarry, and the newlywed husband had to pay the bride price paid by his ex-husband when he got married. Now women's social status has improved and they gradually enjoy equal rights with men.

Wa men can get married and start a family. If there is only one son in the family, he will live with his parents. If there are several brothers, the old man will choose the one he thinks is the best, and all the other sons live alone. The son who stays in the "old house" is the first heir to the property, and the daughter has no inheritance right.

Wa nationality clothes

Wa people worship red and black, and their costumes are mostly black as the quality and decorated with red, which basically retains the ancient mountain ethnic characteristics. Wa women's decorations are unique, and they like to wear big ear tubes, wide bracelets and thin rattan rings, which indicates the strong character of Wa people.

Relatively speaking, men's wear is nothing special except blackheads. But I like tattoos. Most of them are tattooed on the chest, the birds on the wrist and the forest patterns on the legs. When you go out, you often carry a flower bag and wear a long knife or musket, which gives people a sense of power.

Moreover, women's clothing features are distinct and different. The most prominent thing is to wear a silver hoop about 3 cm wide and keep long hair; Wearing an indigo collarless right-back shirt and striped skirt. A wide belt of red cloth and dozens of fine rattan rings are tied around the waist. Shoulder drop earrings, big silver collar, thin necklace around the neck. Older people like to wear an umbrella-shaped big ear tube about five centimeters, and the top of the tube is engraved with various patterns. Some women put fragrant flowers and herbs in their eardrums, and some put RMB, which is very convenient for them to go out to the market and take whatever they want.

In Ximeng, where the Wa people live in compact communities, women, whether rich or poor, have a pair of generous bracelets to wear on their wrists all the year round. The bracelet is about five centimeters wide and made of silver. It is engraved with exquisite patterns, beautiful and shiny, and is a favorite ornament for Wa women.

Wa nationality diet

The Wa people live on rice. Wa people in Ximeng area like to cook vegetables, salt and rice into thick rice. Wa people in other areas eat more rice. Eat three meals in busy farming season and two meals at ordinary times. Chicken porridge, such as camellia porridge, is the top grade in home cooking. Now I often eat upland rice, and all men, women and children eat Chili. There is a saying among the people that "Chili is not short of food".

The meat of Wa people mainly comes from family feeding, including pigs, cows and chickens. In addition, there are habits of preying on mice and insects. In some areas, the Wa people also have the habit of preying on insects, and even eat more than ten kinds of bamboo pupae, red caterpillars parasitic on vegetation, broom worms parasitic on wax gourd trees, wax gourd worms and so on. Generally eat insects and rice to cook porridge, add vegetables, salt and pepper, spicy and delicious.

Beekeeping by Wa people is very common, but the method of beekeeping is very special. First, use hollow logs, seal both ends, leave a few small holes for wild bees to go in and out, and put them under the rafters in the Woods or on the roof to breed and make honey. They are cut two or three times a year and eaten with pupae.

Wa people generally like drinking and drinking bitter tea. All the drinks are brewed by ourselves. Drinking sparkling wine often is not only harmless to the body, but also beneficial to health. In recent decades, low-income people began to drink shochu.

Wa people prefer bitter tea. Some bitter teas are so badly cooked that they almost become tea cream. Bitter tea is bitter, but it feels cool after drinking. For the Wa people in the hot climate area, it has a magical thirst quenching effect.

Chewing betel nut is the common hobby of Wa men, women and children. They usually chew a piece of betel nut in their mouth when they are resting or chatting. Chewing betel nut is a substitute cooked with oak leaves and lime. It is said that chewing betel nut has the function of strengthening teeth.

Typical foods are: camellia porridge, roasted snake meat, fried ant eggs with green peas, fried firewood worms and so on.

Western Australian architecture

Wa houses are simply furnished, with no tables and chairs, bamboo mats and wooden boards as beds, and no bedding. They only use quilts or linen sheets as quilts, pillows and clothes to sleep.

Wa people's housing varies from region to region. The areas greatly influenced by the Han nationality are generally straw houses with four walls touching the ground, as well as straw houses with earth walls and individual tile houses. However, the structure and shape of houses in most Wa areas are similar to those of Dai people, and the building materials are all bamboo (bamboo rattan, bamboo pole, bamboo chips, bamboo strips, etc. ) and grass (thatch, rafters, sandalwood, boards, etc. ). A fork is reserved at the top of the wooden column to support the beam, which supports some thin bamboos and then covers them with thatch to build an overhead "bamboo building". The house is divided into two floors, with people living upstairs and livestock activities downstairs. Some blacksmiths also have bellows and a set of tools for ironing downstairs.

Wa custom

You can't ride into the village, you must dismount at the entrance of the village; Avoid others touching their heads and ears; Avoid giving people peppers and eggs; Avoid entering the wooden drum room at will; Taboo to send decorations to girls; Taboo guests sitting on the drum pier where women sit or counting money at home; If you put a wooden pole in front of the door, it means that there are patients at home and outsiders are forbidden to enter.

Women are not allowed to grab men's hair casually, and men are not allowed to touch women's feet; Don't let others touch your head and ears.

It is considered unlucky for Wa people to count money at home, and there will be disaster.

Wa religion

The Wa people in Ximeng and other places generally believe in the primitive religion of animism. Because the social productivity of the Wa people was extremely low in the past, people could not get rid of the disasters caused by nature and diseases, so they were afraid of natural phenomena and diseases, and thought that mountains, rivers, creatures and all natural phenomena they didn't understand were dominated by "spirit" (or "soul", "ghost" and "god"). The Wa people in Ximeng worship "Muyiji" most (called "Meiji" by the Wa people in Cangyuan) and regard it as the highest spirit that dominates everything. It is like light, water and air, omnipresent and omnipotent. He is the son of Mu Yiji who started the world, Daliji who managed the earthquake, Grarum, Da Asa who thundered, and Greenough, the ancestor of the Wa nationality. Therefore, the Wa people's pig hunting, cattle hunting and headhunting blood sacrifice are all to support Muyiji, and the "drum pulling" is to ask Muyiji to accept dedication. When the new house is completed, Muyiji will be invited to sit on a bamboo stool and watch the dance, so as to pray for Muyiji and other ghosts and gods to help him get rid of all kinds of disasters brought by nature and disease.

In the past, the Wa people believed in primitive religions and held many large-scale "ghost-offering" ceremonies as usual every year. So the wooden drum became a unique sacrificial tool. Lame drum is a grand activity that the whole village should participate in. Drum drawing is usually carried out from June to 10 in Gregorian calendar 65438. At this time, Moba (the wizard) tapped his gun and summoned the villagers. Hold sacrifices and cattle hunting activities.