Lahu Traditional Festivals

Lahu in our country's ethnic groups are not considered to be a large ethnic groups, and Lahu also has its own unique ethnic color, for the Lahu what are the traditional festivals can you understand it? Next I will introduce you to the Lahu traditional festivals, I hope to help you!

Lahu Traditional Festivals

1. Gourd Festival

The Lahu language is "Apeng Aroni", which is held from October 15 to 17 of the lunar calendar. It is held from October 15 to 17 of the lunar calendar. The Gourd Festival is derived from the Lahu epic poem "Mupa Mipa". The epic recounts that after making all things in heaven and earth, ?sha planted a golden gourd seed under a big tree, which slowly sprouted, blossomed and grew into a gourd. The seed slowly sprouted, blossomed and grew into a gourd. Ursa invited millet finches and squirrels to peck open the gourd, and the Lahu patriarchs, Zadi (male) and Nadi (female), came out of the gourd. This day is the 15th day of the 10th lunar month, which becomes the birth day of Lahu, and every year, solemn celebration ceremonies and rich and colorful cultural and sports activities are held.

2. Spring Festival

The Spring Festival of the Lahu people is called the "Expansion", which is divided into the big year and the small year, and the time is the same as the Spring Festival of the Han people. The first day of the first month to the fourth day of the first month for the big year, also known as the "women's year", the first nine days of the first month to the first twelve days of the first month for the small year, also known as the "men's year". Legend has it that in ancient times, when men went out to hunt on New Year's Day, the year was already over, and in order to comfort the men, they had to celebrate the New Year once again, which was called the Little Year. The Lahu people attach great importance to the Spring Festival and start preparing for the New Year from the 24th day of the previous lunar month by cleaning and washing clothes. On the night of New Year's Eve, everyone takes a bath and every family pounds glutinous rice. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, after the rooster crows, families go to the springs and wells to grab "new water" amidst the sound of gunfire. It is said that whoever grabs the "new water" first will be the first to ripen the grain that year, and everything will go well. After grabbing the "new water", it is offered to the gods at the shrine to honor the ancestors and wash the hands of the elderly. Next, the glutinous rice poi baked, the first to honor the legendary hero Za Nu Zabei, and then were offered to the cattle, farm equipment to show their appreciation. On the first day of the year, activities are limited to the village, the main activity is to invite the god of the year on the hillock to the east of the village. From the second to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, friends and relatives bring wine, glutinous rice and pork to pay respect to each other, and the old man, after receiving the New Year gift, will give a red thread blessing to the person who pays respect to the Lunar New Year. Married daughters also bring their son-in-law home to pay homage. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the whole village men collectively go out hunting, before departure, to hold hunting rituals. The 12th day of the first month is the full year, the whole village will be sent back to the God of the year on the hillock, the night in the village square dancing Lusheng, the next day to start production and labor, the end of the Spring Festival.

3. Torch Festival

The Torch Festival is the ****same festival of all the tribes of the Yi language branch, and it is also another important festival of the Lahu after the Spring Festival. The Lahu people have their own legends about the origin of the Torch Festival. According to legend, in ancient times, the god of the sky, Ursa forced people to pay tribute to him on August 15, and the Lahu hero, Zhanu Zabei, led people to resist, and Ursa hid the sun and the moon for seven days and seven nights in anger, and the sky and the earth were in total darkness.

Zanu Zabei picked Songming and tied it to the buffalo's horn, and put beeswax on the horn to light up the earth. The people were able to plow and harvest, and overcome Ursa.

Ursa was so angry that he designed Zanuzabeh's death.

In order to commemorate Zanu Zabe, people will light pine torch on the 24th day of the 6th lunar month every year, which has become the Torch Festival since then.

On the night of the Torch Festival, a pair of big torches several feet high are set up in the center of the village, which are lit by the headman or a person of high moral standing, and the parents of the families also light the torches in front of their houses, and hold the torches to go around in front of their houses, in the corners of the fields, to drive away mosquitoes, insects, rats and snakes, and the young people dance the Lusheng Dance happily around the torches in the square of the village, which goes on all night long.

4. Ancestor Festival

The festival is held from July 13 to 15 of the lunar calendar. During the ancestor festival, each family temporarily sets up a gabion table next to the shrine, puts a pile of offerings such as plantains, pineapples, peaches, pomegranates, ginger seedlings, chicken phoenix flowers, and foster phoenix flowers on the gabion table, the number of piles of offerings is the same as the number of deceased ancestors, inserts joss sticks and waxes, then kills chickens to cook, and honors the ancestors with the best dishes. The ancestors are invited back for the festival according to their seniority and size, and they are prayed to bless the world with peace and happiness. Ancestors must be sacrificed for three days, to the fifteenth day of the offerings with a piece of gabion fence to send to a secluded place outside the village, the end of the festival.

5. New Rice Festival

The exact date is uncertain. In the seventh and eighth months of the lunar calendar, when the rice is yellow and ripe, choose a day. According to the custom, on this day, all the people should return home, and even the animals are driven back home. After the new rice is ready, the first sacrifice to the God of Heaven Ursa and ancestors, and then in order to the livestock, tools of production and the dog each share, people eat last.

6. February 8 and Moon Festival

These festivals are only celebrated by the Lahu who believe in Buddhism. The time is the eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar and the thirteenth to fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The main activity of the former is to go to the Buddha's room to worship the Buddha, drink Buddha's water, and ask the Buddha to bless the peace of human beings and animals. The latter in addition to the Buddha room worship, each family also by the old man with new rice, fresh fruits and melons to worship the moon.

7. Christmas

The Lahu people, who believe in ____, celebrate this festival on December 25 of the Gregorian calendar. Early in the morning of the festival, men, women and children dressed in festive attire, gathered in the church to sing "hymns" (Lahu), and in the afternoon to carry out mass cultural, sports and social activities and give each other gifts. The gifts are registered by the church's bosun (a person who manages financial affairs), hung on a bamboo pole in the center of the square, and received by name by the pastor after prayer. Gifts are given to those who do not have anything, while young men and women give each other their favorite things. Various cultural and sports activities are held in the form of competitions, with the winners receiving a certain amount of prizes and glutinous rice poi. The Christmas festival is a western religious festival, but it is characterized by a strong Lahu traditional festival.

In the festive days of the New Year's Eve, in addition to dancing the Lusheng dance, playing the gyroscope and swinging on the swings are also popular recreational activities among the Lahu people. Playing the gyro is usually carried out in the way of competition, less than two people, more than dozens of people, each for a party, each person holding a gyro and a whip, the first whip line will be tight around the gyro, and then pull the whip, the gyro that is spinning out to hit each other's gyro and make it stop rotating for the winner. Playing gyro not only in the Walled City, sometimes Walled City and Walled City also elected their own representative team to carry out the competition, the trend is quite prevalent, the folk also have a proverb cloud "New Year's Eve to February 8, gyro to hit the grass hair". Swinging is an indispensable activity in the New Year Festival.

8. August Moon Festival.

On the night of the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, we have to choose the best of our own fruits and grains to offer the moon, because the moon is a festival for people to share farming. When the moon rises, each family will choose the pumpkin, cucumber, grain, grain, fruit, etc. (of which the pear is indispensable, pear is a symbol of young men and women's happy days have begun) on the small gabion table, to the back of the cottage sacrificed to the mountain god of the place to offer the moon. Under the moonlight, the whole village adults and children around the gabion table jumping Lusheng, to celebrate the harvest.

9. Tie the red thread.

The Lahu red thread is a kind of wish of the elders to the younger generation. It takes a while for a son or daughter to go out and come back. Before going on the road, the old man should give the son or daughter who goes out a long way to tie the red thread, wishing him (her) a safe journey and smooth running. When a son or daughter returns from a faraway place, he or she should also tie a red thread to celebrate. No matter who became a hero or became an official, the most prestigious elders in the village also want to tie a red thread to him, wishing for him. When young men and women get married, the elders also want to give the bride and groom to tie the red line, wishing them happiness and old age. The red thread is called "Wu Kai Pai" in Lahu. The red thread is composed of four red threads, four white threads, four black threads*** twelve threads. When tethering the threads, the old people and prestigious people sit around the gabion table, put a big bowl with water on the gabion table, use chopsticks to stir the water in one direction, and put the knotted red threads into the water with the water and the water together with the head of the red threads and the head of the red threads to whoever is tethered to the threads of the tethered people. Lahu has a song about tethering: "The golden thread and the silver thread are not as good as Lahu's red thread, Lahu's red thread, tethering hope to the heart, tethering happiness to the heart, Lahu's red thread, the thread of auspiciousness and happiness."

The origin of Lahu

Lahu (hu) and Yi, Hani, Lisu, Naxi, Jinuo, etc. belong to the same ethnic origin.

The Lahu originated from the ancient Qiang people in Gansu and Qinghai, who lived a nomadic life in the early days. Later, they gradually moved south and eventually settled in the Lancang River basin. Their costumes also reflect this historical and cultural change, both with the characteristics of the early northern nomadic culture, but also reflects the style and characteristics of the modern southern farming culture. They are mainly distributed in Simao and Lincang in the Lancang River Basin of Yunnan Province, and also in the neighboring Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture and Yuxi. Among them, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County and Menglian Dai Lahu Autonomous County are the most important areas of settlement. In addition, as a cross-border ethnic group, more than 160,000 Lahu people also live in Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and other countries. They are mainly engaged in agriculture.

The Lahu have their own language, which belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and is divided into two major dialects, Lahuna and Lahusi. In the past, there was no script. In the early 20th century, western missionaries had created a script spelled with the Latin alphabet, which was not popularized due to the lack of science. After the founding of New China, a new phonetic script was created.

The Lahu economy is based on hoeing agriculture, with dry grains, rice and corn as the main crops. Local industries such as agricultural machinery, sugar, tea and mining were also established.

The Lahu have a long history, and their forefathers "belonged to the ancient Qiang people", who gradually moved southward from Qinghai and Gansu into Yunnan and the Central and Southern Peninsula. The Lahu call themselves "Lahu", and there are "Lahuna" (Black Lahu), "Lahusi" (Yellow Lahu), "Lahupu" (White Lahu), "Lahu" (White Lahu) and "Lahu" (White Lahu). The "Lahuna" (Black Lahu), "Lahusi" (Yellow Lahu), "Lahupu" (White Lahu) and other clans. The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a pair of shoes or boots, and then you'll be able to get your hands on a pair of shoes or boots, and then you'll be able to get your hands on a pair of shoes or boots, and then you'll be able to get your hands on a pair of shoes or boots, "Mucha", "Mucha", "Meishe", etc. In April 1953, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County was established, according to the will of the people of this ethnic group, the unified definition of the name of the clan "The Lahu people are the most important ethnic group in the world, and they are the most important ethnic group in the world.

Lahu Taboos

1. Dietary taboos . It is forbidden to use the meat of sows and female animals to make "Chop Sheng", thinking that the life is given by mother nature, and chopping its meat will be retaliated by all the animal ghosts. It is forbidden to eat meat sacrificed by the roadside or in the woods because it is for the spirits to eat. It is forbidden to eat new rice on the day of the Rooster because it is believed that chickens have strong digestive ability, and eating new rice on the day of the Rooster will make one's stomach hungry all the year round. It is taboo to eat beef, "Mupa Mipa" said that Lahu rely on cattle to survive, so do not order not to eat beef, cattle will be buried after death.

2. Housing taboos. It is forbidden to live in a house where a person has died because of a difficult labor, or the person who lives after him will also suffer from this bad luck. It is forbidden to move the table of God in the room, otherwise it will offend the ancestors and the gods. It is forbidden to cross the firewood in the house or sit in the middle of the firewood, otherwise the offender will be separated from his flesh and blood.

3. Dress taboos. Taboo with broken skirt rags mending men's clothes, or men hunting will be injured by gunshot wounds or injured by wild animals. The Lahu in the area of Lancang Tszzhu River believe that the red color is unlucky, and thus avoid wearing pure red clothes and pants, and also prohibit outsiders from bringing in red blankets, red handkerchiefs and other things.

4. Funeral taboos. Prohibit burial on unlucky days, that unlucky days to send away the souls of the dead. Taboo single person to participate in the funeral, or its soul will be paired with the soul of the dead to stay in the netherworld, and therefore must participate in the funeral of the people in pairs. It is forbidden to bury the dead in public cemeteries, otherwise the deaths will continue to occur.

5. Marriage taboos. It is forbidden to do the wedding on the anniversary of the death of parents, otherwise it will be a life of hardship. Newlyweds are not allowed to use a bowl with a gap, or the children born will also lack a mouth.

6. birth taboo. Pregnant women are forbidden to climb trees, taboo picking fruits and melons, taboo killing, otherwise it will miscarry. Prohibit the husband in his wife's first 12 days of menstruation out of the house, or the baby will be "Park dead ghost" harm. Avoid scolding the baby, or will be "baby ghosts" of revenge.

7. birth taboo. Horses do not plant on the day, that the horse has a big appetite, which will cause food shortfalls. Corn, buckwheat can only be in the genus Tiger Day open seed, because the tiger does not eat corn, buckwheat, and can drive away other beasts, so that the crops. Avoid planting on the day of the parents' death, otherwise the grain will be taken away by the underworld. It is taboo to bring meat for hunting and pickles for fishing, otherwise the god of the hunt will find the meat and the stench, resulting in no catch. It is taboo to discuss hunting matters by the fire, otherwise the coals will notify the beasts to escape. It is taboo to enter a barbecue room without adding firewood, otherwise the amount of alcohol produced will be reduced. The first thunder after the Spring Festival, the whole village stopped production and labor for a day, and do not pound the pestle.

8. Festival taboos. It is forbidden to work on the first day of the Lunar New Year, cut firewood, wash clothes, pound and pestle, kill animals, cut vegetables, do business, borrow things, and herd animals, etc. According to Lahu, it is "not to beat anything that moves, and not to move anything that is green". It is taboo to say or do something wrong on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

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