The History of Jousting

Yunnan Mongolians mainly live in Xingmeng Nationality Township of Tonghai County, and some of them live in Ma Li Po County's Horse Street District, Iron Factory District, and Xishang Township of Xichou County, Niuqiangba Township, Na Ma Township, and a few of them live sporadically in different parts of Yunnan Province. The Yunnan Mongols are the descendants of Mongolian soldiers and officials stationed in Yunnan during the Yuan Dynasty, and have been settled in Yunnan for more than seven hundred years; over the long years, due to changes in production and living environment, their ethnic characteristics have evolved accordingly. Today's Mongolian people in Yunnan are very different from the Mongolian people in Inner Mongolia grassland in terms of production mode, dress, language, living customs and psychological quality. The Mongols are a hard-working and courageous people, and they are also good at learning. After the death of the Yuan, they were reduced to commoners and settled in Yunnan, in the living environment, living and production conditions have changed a lot. However, they quickly adapted to the new environment, based on different objective conditions, learned from the surrounding brother ethnic groups, mastered new production skills, and tenaciously survived and developed. Yunnan Mongolia's main settlement of Tonghai County Xingmeng Township, located in Qilu Lake west, north of Fengshan, south across the Hongqi River, including Zhongcun, Baige, under the village, Jiaochewan, Taojiazui and other five natural villages.

This area was originally next to Qilu Lake and was once called Lower Fishing Village or Fisherman's Village. Fishing and boating became an important means of livelihood for the Mongolian people. In addition to fishing and boating, they also learned from the Han Chinese and other ethnic minorities in the farming techniques, through the hardships, the reeds of the lake reclaimed into a good field. What is more admirable is that the Mongolian people in Yunnan, who originated from the yurt in the grassland, after learning from the Han people, are famous for their expertise in construction, and have constructed many famous buildings in Yunnan, and Xingmengxiang is thus known as the "township of construction" in southern Yunnan. The dress of the Mongols in Yunnan has evolved over a long period of time, distinguishing them from the Mongols in Inner Mongolia and from other ethnic minorities in Yunnan. Women's clothing is more distinctive, generally wearing two or three pieces of different lengths and colors of the "two stacks of water" or "three stacks of water" blouse (unmarried girls wear "two stacks of water", married

The exposed neckline and cuffs of the blouse are decorated with delicate lace motifs. Headdress also has a unique style: two strands of hair plaits cross coiled on the head into horns; wearing a phoenix hat; two bundles of red tassels at the back of the head, known as "Xi Bi". Married young women do not wear a phoenix hat, and a 1.5-meter-long green cloth folded into a nearly 6-centimeter-wide head wrap around the head, called the "handful of services Shi"; head before the braid is no longer cocked into a slightly drooping shape; after giving birth to a child, the braid should be all coiled on the top of the head, with the head wrap tightly covered with a headcloth, do not expose the hair; behind the head of the "Xi Bi! The "Xi Bi" on the back of the head can no longer be worn. Yunnan Mongolian current language, due to long-term interaction with the local Yi and intermarriage, absorbed a lot of Yi components. Housing is wood and earth masonry structure. Funerals are earth burials in wooden coffins. Marriage is monogamous, before the young men and women at the age of seven or eight years old by their parents arranged betrothal, to eighteen or nineteen years old and then married. Religious beliefs are complex, worshipping Goddess of Mercy, Dragon King, God of Wealth, God of the Land, Lord of the Earth, and Lu Ban. One of the most worshipped is Luban, Luban Festival, people carry the statue of Luban to travel the townships and villages, dancing lights and singing opera, very lively. Legend has it that on the third day of the fourth month of the old calendar, it is Lu Ban to the Mongolian craftsmen Ch'an Ban taught "Wood Scripture" day, and later on it is Ch'an Ban to accept the day of the apprentice, so it is known as the "hometown of construction" Xingmeng, every day of the day are to be over the Festival of Lu Ban. In addition, Guanyin will also be more lively festival. According to legend, the old calendar February 19 for the old mother of Goddess of Mercy birthday, when to hold a "meeting" activities, jumping shrimp lamps, dancing dragon lanterns, playing the king whip, joyful "welcome Goddess of Mercy". 1979 years later, after the Xingmeng Township sent to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to visit and learn, restored! Long lost national festival - Naadam. Mongolia into Yunnan, brought their grassland culture, Yunnan brother ethnic groups have had a certain impact. Among the Naxi in Lijiang, there is a large-scale folk music piece called "Bengshi xinli" (also known as "Baisha xinli"), which contains three dance pieces. This work is rumored to be the "Yuan People's Remaining Sound", which was a gift given to the Naxi chief Aqiong Aliang when Kublai Gebang crossed the river. In the Guangxu "Lijiang Province draft" and the Republic of China "Lijiang Province Zhiliao", "Lijiang County Records" and other books have similar records. There is also another saying that "this song was created from the folk" (see Naxi lifer Li Yuzhan, "Mr. Yixiao Poetry and Literature," Volume I), although to be further verified, but it is interesting to this song in the prelude to the song, "Duk", in the northern Mongolian language is also the meaning of the "prelude"; Another section of "Alili Ji row" ("sad white clouds"), Mongolian means "farewell", the meaning is similar. I am afraid that this is not only a coincidence, but also a result of the mutual influence and exchange between the two ethnic cultures. In addition, the Naxi folk artists in the preservation of a musical instrument "Sugudu", is also rumored to be Kublai gifted to the Aqiong Aliang music class handed down.

On the other hand, after the Mongols entered Yunnan, in the social environment with the mixed ethnic groups at that time, the colorful folk culture and art of the people of various ethnic groups, but also inevitably affected the Mongols. In this regard, the most prominent is living in Tonghai County, Yunnan Mongolian Xingmeng Township, the original in the Yi people in the circulation of self-entertainment dance "jumping music" to learn, and through the development of the dance and become the nation. Because the Yuan Dynasty Yuan troops stationed around the Qu Tuo Pass inhabited a large number of Yi, so the Yi dance culture on the Mongolian influence, with the close social interaction and produced. The steppe dances brought by the Mongols from the north were increasingly detached from their inherent soil. In order to adapt to the new mode of production, living environment and socialization with the Yi people and even the need to establish marriage relations, the Mongolian people in Yunnan found a with the Yi people with joy **** music, exchange of ideas and feelings of the medium, which is jumping music. The intermarriage between the two ethnic groups greatly accelerated the process of moving the jumping music to the Mongolian people in Yunnan, such as the "vernacular boss" (meaning the competent person who sings the "vernacular accent") Yang Qingde in the village of Xingmeng Township and the "four-string boss" (playing the four-stringed instrument) in the village of Baige. " (四弦琴的能手), Zhao Lockzhen, said, "In those years, because there were few women with the army, most of the Mongolian soldiers married local Yi daughters-in-law, and these women passed on their dancing music to us Mongols."

Yunnan Mongolian jumping music has specific occasions. Because jumping music is commonly known as "play little girl" or play "young man" (meaning with the girl or young man with the play) such a social activity, in the old society was regarded as "bad manners and customs In the old days, it was regarded as a "bad custom", so it was usually carried out in the remote mountains or lawns away from the village. The local Mongolian people circulated a "Sujia cave song" legend story: in a night more than two hundred years ago, there are two dozen young people in the mountains embrace the place called Sujia Liangzi jump music, was found by the local gentleman and reactionary armed forces, the two dozen young people buried alive in the place of jumping music, the place is therefore called "string song hole". Another rumor, there is a Chinese surname Mongolia, only in the mountains to play the strings, will be killed by a gun. It is also said that a long time ago, there were two villages of a dozen pairs of young men and women through the dance music to establish a relationship, to be arrested and severely punished. After they knew, they met and ran to a very deep cave in Sujia Mountain to hide, in which they jumped and sang to their heart's content until they all starved to death in the cave and did not come out. Now the men who participate in the dancing music are of any age, and there is no restriction on whether they are married or not; most of the women are girls, and young women who have been married and have not yet given birth can also participate, but women who have already given birth are not allowed to participate any more. In addition, although the whole process of jumping music throughout the men and women to express their love and respect for each other, sung by the tune of love songs, but more civilized manners, avoid vulgarity.

Despite its origin from the Yi, Yunnan Mongolian jumping music has injected its own national character into the art of this nation. From the overall style, the Yi jumping music appears light, showy and slightly subtle, movement dexterity changeable, waist and abdomen swing larger; and Yunnan Mongolian is soft with hard, more calm, action group stage whole block sense is stronger, waist and abdomen is more stable. From this, we can see the Mongolian rough and bold national traditional temperament reflected in the dance rhythm. In addition to jumping music, in the Xingmeng Township Yunnan Mongolians also have the girl dragon, shrimp lamp, lion lamp, Da Shun plow field, stilts, whip and other performances of folk dance. These dances are generally performed at temple fairs or festivals (such as Luban, Guanyin and the rise of the Naadam Festival in recent years), the local people call these dances as "the meeting of the ground". The dance form is similar to that of the Han Chinese, but the female role in the Han Chinese Dihui is mostly played by men, while the Mongolians are men pretending to be men and women pretending to be women, with no taboos, fully embodying their open and liberal national character.

Jumping music and the ground will be, mainly circulated in Tonghai County, Xingmeng Township. In addition, in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Xiangyun County, Wo Dian District circulated a "jumping Mengjia" (commonly known as "jumping Tartar"). This kind of dance is usually performed during the Spring Festival in each family's house or on the open ground in the countryside, showing the content of driving away evil and seeking good fortune. The actors consist of two men and two women (men dressed as women), all wearing Mongolian costumes of the Yuan Dynasty. Although this dance has been passed down in the Bai people, but from the content and form, it has an inseparable link with the Mongolian people, should be a special type of Mongolian folk dance in Yunnan. In addition, in Tonghai County, Xingmeng Township, there is a kind of activities for the sick to drive away the evil spirits and give the dead a funeral, known as "scattering flowers by", which is also mixed with a small number of simple dance movements. This activity is mostly carried out by middle-aged and elderly women, the place selected in the courtyard of the patient's home, the hall or around the coffin of the deceased. Participants in the oral recitation of the words, the right hand holding a piece of witch handkerchiefs thrown back and forth, the two legs with the hand movement of natural ups and downs jump, but this activity is no longer popular.