Ethnic Customs in Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park

The code of the Dai people stipulates, "There should be a thousand rivers to build Meng." Abundant water source is one of the important conditions for the Dai to choose a site to build a fortress and settle down.

The Dai people of Xishuangbanna are the people who have a relationship with water and are called the people of water. Proverbs say, "Foam floats with the waves, and the Dai follow the flowing water" and "Water creates the world, and the world relies on water". The water in the mind of the Dai people is the milk that nurtures everything and the blood source of life. It is said in the Dai epic of creation, "Batamagga Shuangshangluo", that the god Yingba, who opened up the heaven and earth, created the earth by mixing other substances with water. In the Dai medical treatise Hui Ta Wu Yun, it is said that "Batavi Tadu" (earth), "Abo Tadu" (water), "Dai Zhuo Tadu" (fire), "Vayotadu (wind) are interpreted as the material origin of the human body. Water plays the role of glue and the source of life. The Dai realize that water not only has the functions of drinking, washing, shipping, irrigating, and driving a waterwheel, but also has the function of nourishing all things in the world. The Dai people have a deep love with water.

All Dai villages are built alongside water. The Dai people's attachment to water is also related to their customs and habits and the climate of the place where they live. The Dai people over the new year festival, there are bathing Buddha, splashing water, rowing dragon boat and other activities, are inseparable from the water; subtropical high temperature, people have to be a day a few baths; the Dai people to open paddy fields to plant rice, irrigation also need water. The life of the Dai people is inseparable from water. The Dai people have a long history and have created a splendid culture in their long-term life. The Dai calendar, the Dai language and the colorful national folklore are famous in the world. As early as more than a thousand years ago, the ancestors of the Dai people wrote many beautiful and touching myths and legends, fables, novels, poems, etc., on the shells and paper, and there are more than 550 long poems written in Dai language alone. The masterpieces such as "Shao Shu Tun and Nanmu Nona" and "Hulu Letter" have been adapted into movies and dramas, which are very popular among the masses. The dance of the Dai people has a high artistic level and distinctive national characteristics, and its movements are mostly analogous to and glorify the behavior of animals, such as the popular "Peacock Dance" and "Elephant's Foot Drum Dance".

The Peacock Dance is called "Jialuochong", "Bother Luochong" or "Jannanluo" in Dai language. This is the most popular dance of the Dai people, spread in the Dai settlement. The rich and beautiful Dai Township, known as the "Peacock Township", used to be a place where peacocks danced in a charming manner whenever the morning sun was shining or the setting sun was shining, so the peacock in the hearts of the Dai people is a symbol of good luck, happiness, beauty and goodness. During festivals, the Dai people gather together to watch the peacock dance performed by folk artists based on folk tales, myths and legends, and Buddhist scriptures and other stories, and the performance of the peacock's dance habits.

The Elephant Foot Drum Dance is called "Jar Guang" or "Bother Guang" in Dai language (Dai language calls the drum "Guang" and the dance "Jar"). (the drum is called "light" in Dai, and the dance is called "jia"). "Jaguang" is the most popular men's dance in the Dai area. Whenever rice-planting and harvest time comes, the elephant foot drum dance is performed to celebrate. The elephant-foot drum is not only a prop for folk dance, but also the main instrument to accompany other dances. When the Dai people are entertained, there must be drums and drums, and only with the accompaniment of the elephant foot drums can the dance be performed with sound and color and sound and enjoyment. The beautiful and simple Dai women's clothes; Hani and Jinuo men's clothes embroidered with colorful patterns and inlaid with silver ornaments; and the simple Lahu and Brown women's clothes. Ethnic crafts factory according to the needs of tourists, developed the production of the Fu, Hani, Brown, Lahu and Jinuo clothing, traditional fabrics combined with modern fabrics; traditional styles, colors, accessories and modern styles, accessories, designed and sewn ethnic clothing with distinctive ethnic characteristics into the market.

The dressing of Dai women is colorful and beautiful. Dai women generally grow up with a slim figure, pure and delicate face, look pavilion, elegant, so there is a "golden peacock" of the beautiful name. They not only look beautiful, but also good at dressing up, one by one with unique clothing to dress up like a flower like jade.

The Dai women generally like to wear narrow-sleeved short clothes and tube skirts, to fully display their slender figure. Above wearing a white or scarlet underwear, outside is a tight-fitting short blouse, round neck and narrow sleeves, with a large lapel, there is also a lapel, water red, tender pink, yellow, light green, snow white, sky blue and other colors. Mostly sewn with georgette, silk, indeed cool and other materials. Narrow-sleeved short shirt tightly over the arm, almost no gap, there are many people also like to use flesh-colored clothing sewing, if not look carefully, but also do not see the sleeve tube, before and after the lapel just waist, tightly wrapped around the body, and then a silver belt tied with a short-sleeved shirt and the mouth of the unity skirt, under the long ankle-length unity skirt, the waist is slim and thin, the hemline is wide. Dai women's attire, fully demonstrated the female chest, waist, hip "three" beauty, coupled with the use of soft fabrics, bright and colorful, no matter walking or doing things, all give people a graceful, elegant feeling.

The Dai men generally wear collarless lapel or lapel small-sleeved shirts, long pants, white cloth, green cloth or scarlet cloth to wrap their heads, and some wear bowler hats, which make them look dashing and generous.

The Dai people, both men and women, always like to go out and carry a satchel made of woven silk on their shoulders. Satchel colorful, simple style, with a strong color of life and national characteristics. Patterns of rare birds and animals, trees and flowers or geometric shapes, realistic images, lifelike. Each pattern contains specific content, such as: red, green is to commemorate the ancestors; peacock pattern indicates auspiciousness; elephant pattern symbolizes a bumper crop, a good life, fully expresses the Dai people's desire for a better life and the pursuit of. Tongba, or satchel. The Dai Tomba is woven with various colors of wool and cotton threads as raw materials. The bag is more than 30 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide. The front, side and back of the bag. Or weaving flowers, birds and animals, or weaving geometric shapes, the bottom of the bag is decorated with colored spikes. Hinayana Buddhism was introduced into Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, and became the religion of all Dai people. Buddhist temple buildings can be seen everywhere, almost every village has a Buddhist temple, and some Buddhist temples are built next to pagodas. Buddhist temples and pagodas have become the center of the Dai people's life

and the sanctuary of their hearts, and the art of Buddhist architecture has become a valuable cultural and artistic treasure of the Dai people.

The Dai Buddhist temples in Xishuangbanna are mainly built with heavy eaves and flat tiles. Most of the Buddhist temples are square, sitting in the west and facing the east, the roof slope is made of three layers, the center hall is higher, the north and south sides are decreasing, staggered rise and fall. The roof is made of rectangular tiles, the tails of which are hooked on the flat bamboo rafters. The ridge of the roof and the ridge between the eaves, lime smoothed, above the arrangement of various tile decorations.