Walk into Guangxi Zhuang nationality, understand? So what? culture

There are 56 ethnic groups in China, each with its own traditional culture. As the most populous minority in China, Zhuang nationality also has many cultural festivals.

Then, come with me to see Zhuang culture!

"Where are you?"

"I'm over there."

"Which way is that?"

"That's it!"

This is the "wild talk" of several foreign tourists when they got lost in Baise Village, Guangxi. "Over there" is actually a local place name. Not only that, there is a place name not far from "there"-"there". Such a special place name makes the newcomers really confused.

At the "Na" Cultural Tourism Festival in Longan County, Nanning, Guangxi, Zhuang compatriots are holding a grand Mi Shen Festival. On April 8 every year, on the Farm Tools Festival, the Zhuang compatriots in that cultural circle wear national costumes, hold sacrificial ceremonies, parades and other activities, express their admiration and gratitude for the land and cattle farming with songs and dances, and pray for good weather and bumper harvests in the coming year.

In Guangxi, a powerful town, towns and similar names "that" abound. "Na" is a unique cultural symbol of Zhuang nationality, which means "Tian" and "Dong" in Zhuang language. At first it refers to paddy fields, and later it refers to fields or land.

As a traditional rice-growing nation, for thousands of years, the Zhuang people have taken "Na" as their work, life and support, and formed a "Na" culture with rice as its core, which has a long history and far-reaching influence. It can be said that almost every Zhuang compatriot has a cultural complex of "Na".

Land complex in place names

In this rice-growing country, land is the most precious wealth. People's production and life are based on land, and farming is the starting point and destination of all actions. The most obvious performance is that it depends on the field, discusses people with the field, names the field, and sets up gods for the field.

Most villages of Zhuang nationality are surrounded by mountains and rivers, facing the fields. It is logical to take a place Name marked with the field "na". As big as counties, cities and towns, such as Napo, Nama and Chen Na; Small villages, such as Wang Na, Shaona and Zuo Na. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 1200 place names with the word "Na" in Guangxi.

Named after "Na", based on the characteristics and nature of "Na", such as Na Weng ("Weng" is a transliteration of Zhuang language, the same below), that is, indiscriminate mud fields; Jiang Na, midfield; Bona, a field on the edge of spring; Reina, the field of the earth ridge; Nada, a field by the river; Sixth, the fields irrigated by waterwheels; That building, our domain; That class, Naman, that class, Murata; That horse, the field where horses are raised; That scene, the craftsman's field; That fence, the field where ducks are raised; That field with buffaloes. ...

The people who named these places were the earliest ancestors of Zhuang people who cultivated these fields. Whenever and wherever they name places and villages, they follow this law, which is a common practice and based on the same model, that is, taking "Na" as the crown.