Tourist guide exam ethnic customs: Yi customs

The Yi are the most populous ethnic minority in Yunnan Province, with a large number of branches and a wide distribution area. Most of them live in the mountainous areas, some in the alpine mountains, and a few in the flat dams and river valleys. Mainly distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and other provinces and regions, the existing population of more than 6.57 million, of which Yunnan has the most, with more than 4.05 million people. The majority of counties and cities in the province have Yi distribution, especially in Chuxiong, Honghe two states of the Mourning Mountains, the Wumeng Mountain area and the small Liangshan area in northwestern Yunnan (Ninglang, Yongsheng, Huaping and other counties) is more concentrated.

The Lijiang area now has a Yi population of more than 190,000, of which more than 130,000 are in the Nyingchi Yi Autonomous County. Since the Yi in Nyingchi mainly migrated from the Daliang Mountains in Sichuan, it is customary to call the area inhabited by these Yi "Liangshan", and in order to distinguish it from the Daliang Mountains in Sichuan, it is also called "Xiaoliangshan in Yunnan".

The Yi people have a long history and a rich and colorful folk culture and art. Its "Solar Calendar" and "Twelve Beasts Calendar" have their unique features. There are no less than one hundred kinds of self-proclaimed names, the main ones are Nuosu Dial, Nasu Dial, Nie Su Dial, Change Su Dial, Sani Dial, A fine dial, etc. After liberation, according to the will of the Yi people, the Yi people are united as the Yi people. Yi is the "Yi" of Ding Yi, which is the phonetic translation of the name of the Yi people, but also has the meaning of solemn and ancient, richly clothed and well-fed.

The Yi people have their own language and writing, the language belongs to the Tibetan-Burmese branch of the Chinese-Tibetan language family, the Yi language branch, there are six dialects, the small Liangshan Yi language is the northern dialect of the Shiza dialect. The Yi people have written history, literature, astronomical and medical books, religious classics, etc. in Yi language, such as the Liangshan Yi Epic of Creation, "Le Otei". Yi culture and art have a long history, and there is no lack of valuable documents in history, literature, medicine, calendar and other works recorded in Yi language. The popular folk dance is the "Jumping Music". Traditional arts and crafts include lacquer painting, embroidery, silver jewelry, carving and painting. The Yi are mainly engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry is a secondary industry, handicraft production is also quite developed.

There are many festivals of the Yi people, such as Mizhi Festival, Yi Calendar Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Winter Solstice, Flower Arrangement Festival and Race Dressing Festival, etc., and the Torch Festival is the most important one. The woolen felt rolled out by the Yi people, the satchels embroidered with beautiful patterns, and the refined wooden lacquer vessels are the handicrafts with national characteristics in daily life.

There are many branches of the Yi people, and there are great differences in the costumes of different places, with nearly a hundred kinds of dresses, each with its own characteristics. Before the age of 15, the Yi girl wore a red and white skirt and a single braid, and once she reached 15, some places had to hold a ceremony called "Shalaluo", which means "changing skirts, combing double braids, and pulling ear wires", marking that the girl has grown up. After the age of 15, it is necessary to wear the middle section is black young girl's floor-length skirt, single braid combed into a double braid, wearing embroidered colorful flowers on the head, but also to wear the ear of the old threads of childhood pulled off, replaced with shiny silver earrings. The "Shalalo" ceremony marks the beginning of the golden age of a young girl.

The Yi people worship nature, plants and animals, ancestors, etc., that heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, mountains and rivers, water and rocks, etc. have gods, in the many gods, Gezi sky god is considered to be, followed by the mountain gods. However, some Yi tribes have sky gods and do not respect them (not the Gezi sky god), and there are often battles between human beings and sky gods, where the sky gods put down all kinds of calamities in an attempt to destroy human beings, and all of them end up with the victory of human beings. More Yi tribes believe that the God of Heaven is the master of all things, and that the life and death of mankind is in his hands, so they pay special attention to sacrificing to the God of Heaven.

The taboos of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan Mountain are many, mainly manifested in behavioral taboos, language taboos, dietary taboos and so on.

Behavioral taboos

Taboo riding a horse when people do not get off the horse. It is forbidden for a pregnant woman to come and go to another person's wedding. The baby is not full moon avoid seeing people who stink of fox. It is forbidden to stir the stone of pots and pans with one's feet, and it is even more forbidden to cross over the fire pit. It is forbidden to throw grain in the hand. It is forbidden to hit the cuckoo bird. Spirit card is the incarnation of the ancestral spirit, forbidden to outsiders close or unclean things placed around. Jealousy engagement, New Year's Eve killed pigs and sheep and other livestock without gall sweat or spleen dark roll. Contraindicated killing livestock not first burned within the sacrifice of ancestors, but first by dogs, cats, chickens touch. Avoid walking freely in the middle of the field during the Torch Festival, as this will attract insect pests. Avoid walking around with torches in the daytime, and avoid walking out of the house with two torches lit one after another. If someone in the family goes out for a long trip, it is forbidden to sweep the garbage out afterwards. It is forbidden to play the mouth string or whistle inside the house and leave the door open at night. It is forbidden to cut down the sacred tree or make a lot of noise and play around the sacred tree. It is forbidden to carry hoes and axes together or put them together. It is forbidden to break branches, spit, beat chickens, dogs, chop brooms, and slap heads in front of each other when there is an enmity with someone. Can not touch the man's "heavenly bodhisattva". Women are not allowed to touch the man's head, not to mention from the man's hat across. Jealousy in public to play loud *. To the Yi family guests, can not sit in the pile of things and sleep under the bunk and the left side. The host wine and meat hospitality, guests should taste, to show appreciation.

Language taboos

It is forbidden to use "fat", "heavy", "beautiful" and other praises for babies. Taboo in front of the crowd straight talk about urination, defecation, release *, childbirth and so on, and more taboo mantra with the content of the genitals of both sexes in the language. It is forbidden to make jokes between brothers and daughters-in-law and brothers and daughters-in-law. Do not joke casually with Bima and Suni. Avoid saying unlucky words when the family is out. Do not speak of death or injury when a person is sick. Do not curse others and livestock and trees without reason.

Dietary taboos

Do not eat horses, mules, dogs, cats, monkeys, snakes, frogs and other meat. Don't eat food with chopsticks broken when stirring. When pulling sheep to the hall ready to kill, sheep suddenly screaming people avoid eating. Avoid eating grain seeds. Avoid eating rice that has been skipped by chickens. Avoid eating meat cut with a sickle. Men are forbidden to eat flour whose shaft is broken when pushing the mill. Pregnant women are forbidden to eat roe deer meat and rabbit meat, and children are forbidden to eat chicken stomach, chicken tail, pig's ear and sheep's ear. It is forbidden to eat chicken ileum. Jealousy burning buckwheat poi, baogu poi from the fire on the right (guest side) into the out

Customs

Folk have "hit the sheep", "hit the cow" to welcome guests and hospitality habits. Whenever a guest arrives, he or she must be killed first to treat the guest, and according to the guest's status and affinity, he or she must be treated with cows, goats, pigs, chickens, etc. Before the animal is killed, the live animal must be put into the water. Before killing the animal, the live animal to the guest before, please guests after the slaughter, to show respect for the guests. Wine is a welcome gift to guests, in Liangshan [gallery] as long as the guests into the house, the host must first wine guests, and then make a variety of dishes. Guests of the meal to pig fat fat thick large for decent, in the middle of the meal, the housewife to pay attention to the guests bowl of rice, not to be eaten by guests to add at any time, to show sincerity to the guests. When eating, the elders sit on top, the next generation in order to sit on both sides and below, and for the elders to add rice, hostage dishes, bubble soup.

Wedding customs

After the engagement of young men and women, it is necessary to prepare for the wedding banquet. Wedding feasts mostly use pork and chicken, generally do not use mutton (funeral use mutton). Shiping Yi people in southern Yunnan, before the marriage of men and women invited to gather partners to drink the habit of dinner; Yi people in western Yunnan, where the marriage of the bride, are to be in the courtyard towel or dam, with branches of the shed for guests to drink, smoke, eat, sit down, the folk with this branch of the temporary hut called the "green shed".

Food customs

Most of the Yi people are used to eating three meals a day, with a variety of noodles and rice as the main food. The Yi in the Handsha River, Anning River and Dadu River Basin have pimples of rice for breakfast. For lunch, they make poha as the main food, and have wine and food. In all the poi, to buckwheat noodles do the most characteristic poi. It is said that the buckwheat flour poop has the effect of digestion, digestion, stop sweating, anti-inflammatory, and can be stored for a long time without deterioration. Guizhou female Ning buckwheat pastry has become a local traditional snack of long standing.

Meat to pig, sheep, beef-based. Mainly made into a "pile of meat", cattle soup pot, sheep soup pot, or roasted sheep, roast piglets, deer, bears, rock sheep, wild boar, etc. obtained by hunting is also a daily meat supplement.

The mountains are also rich in mushrooms, fungus, walnuts, together with the vegetables produced by the garden, making a wide range of sources of vegetables, in addition to freshly eaten, most of them are made into sauerkraut, sauerkraut is divided into two kinds of dry sauerkraut and pickled sauerkraut, and the other name of the dish "Dolabar" dish is also the most common folk dishes.

The daily drink of the Yi people is wine and tea, and they treat their guests with wine, which is said to be "expensive tea for the Han people and expensive wine for the Yi people". The habit of drinking tea is more common among the elderly, and roasted tea is the mainstay. The Yi people only pour a shallow half-cup each time they drink tea, and drink it slowly.

Typical foods eaten by the Yi people are: buckwheat, Yi flavor staple; batter pickled meat, Yi farming dishes; boiled suckling pig in white water, Yunnan Yi traditional delicacies, boiled suckling pig dipped in water; potpourri oil powder, Yunnan Yi flavor snacks, made of pea flour.

Festivals

The Yi people used to worship the spirit of all things and worship ancestors. There are many traditional folk festivals, the main ones being the October Festival, Torch Festival and regional festivals and rituals.

October Year: It is a traditional year for the Yi people, and is held on an auspicious day in the first half of October in the lunar calendar. The festival lasts for 5-6 days. During the festival, pigs and sheep are killed, and cattle are killed for the rich, when they are dressed up for feasts, visiting relatives and friends, and exchanging gifts.

Torch Festival: It is the grandest traditional festival of the Yi people, held on the 24th day of the 6th lunar month every year. At that time to kill cattle, kill sheep, sacrificing ancestors, some areas also sacrificed to the Lord of the earth, feast with each other, eat lumps of meat, *** wishing a bumper harvest. Torch Festival is generally celebrated for three days, the first day of the family get-together, after two days of wrestling, horse racing, bullfighting, boat racing, tug of war and other colorful activities, and then held a grand bonfire party, all-night revelry.

The festival: living in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places of the Yi residents, in the New Year after the tenth and eleventh days of the second month of the lunar calendar, but also a New Year's Day, the Yi language called this festival for the "hemp dragon fire".

In the ritual activities to sacrifice the dragon scale. Sacrifice of the dragon in two, three, April in a dragon day, to the village as a unit of each person to bring their own bowl of rice, a small piece of salt, by the old man prepared incense, in the collective sacrifice under the dragon tree; Yunnan Yi choose the first month of the first day of the dragon for the dragon sacrifice, the sacrifice of everyone to sit on the ground, regardless of the age of the young, the rice bring their own, the meat * * * food, a large-scale assembly.