What is a lone dragon?

Mainly inhabiting Dulong Valley in Gongshan, Yunnan. Until the middle of this century, Dulong was still in the disintegration stage of primitive commune. People mainly plant, hunt and gather, wearing linen woven by themselves, and a few people cover it with leaves and skins. Women also advocate the custom of tattooing. Dulong language is basically the same as Guishan Nu language, and there is no mother tongue.

custom

Whether drinking, eating or eating meat, housewives eat part of it in Dulong. When the guests arrive, they will get the same share. 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. 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 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 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.

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. At that time, family members, relatives and friends will also give gifts, and the elderly in the village will also make some food for the families of the deceased. At wedding banquets, Dulong people usually kill pigs and chickens to entertain guests. Every time his wife gives birth to a child after marriage, the son-in-law will give his father-in-law a cow or an iron pot, a knife and the like to express his gratitude.

Dietary customs

Dulong people have the habit of eating two meals. Breakfast is usually highland barley fried noodles or baked potatoes; Dinner is mainly corn, rice or millet, and the roots of various wild plants are also ground into starch and made into cakes or porridge. Dulong still retains many ancient cooking methods, the most common of which is to cook cooked slate Baba with a special slate pot. When baking slate Baba, we usually use Atun or Dong palm starch, make it into paste with bird eggs, and then pour it on a hot slate pot, which is delicious with baking.

Dulong's daily dishes include potatoes, pods, melons, bamboo shoots, bamboo leaves and various fungi, which are usually cooked in a pot with pepper, wild garlic and salt. Winter is the peak season for hunting in Dulong area, and wild beef is the main meat in winter. When eating wild beef, air-dry the beef first, then bake it with low fire, then mash it into filaments, make it into floss or cut it into small pieces, seal it in a bamboo tube and keep it or carry it with you.

Dulongjiang is also rich in all kinds of fish, mostly fish with thin scales and thick skin. When eating fish, Dulong people like to roast the fish in the open air or dip it in seasoning after frying, and often drink the roasted fish as a side dish. Bee pupa is one of the most exquisite dishes in Dulong. It is said that there are many centenarians in Dulong, which is related to the frequent consumption of bee pupae. The typical foods of Dulong people are: taro cooked with hemp, roast chicken and soju, Jimmy and so on.

Holidays and festivals

Kakwa is the only annual festival of Dulong people, which is held on a certain day of the twelfth lunar month (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 a cow, the festival host tied the cow to a stake, then a young woman covered the cow's back with a linen blanket, hung beads on the horn, set up sacrifices, lit Song Ming and pine wool (pine leaves), and finally a young man with both parents stabbed the cow to death with a sharp bamboo spear, then cut the beef on the spot and immediately put it in a cauldron for cooking. During the festival, all Dulong people should greet each other and congratulate each other as a family.