Characteristics of Hmong costumes and its important festivals

The costumes of the Miao people have their own characteristics in different places. Miao men in northwest Guizhou and northeast Yunnan wear patterned linen clothes and woolen blankets with geometric patterns on their shoulders; in other places, Miao men generally wear short clothes with lapels or left lapels. They wear long pants, big belts, long green scarves, and in winter, their feet are wrapped in bindings. Ancient Miao men have long hair, pulling vertebrae bun on top of the head, inserting wooden combs or hair pins, wearing earrings, bracelets, collars and other ornaments. To the end of the Qing Dynasty, they no longer store hair in a bun, and some changed to long braids. Miao women's clothing varies greatly from region to region, with dozens of styles, but most of the women in the region wear short clothes with big collars and pleated skirts of different lengths, some of which are as long as the tops of the feet, some of which are as short as the roots of the legs, only seven or eight inches long. The Miao in western Hunan, Songtao and Kaili in Guizhou, Damiao Mountain in Guangxi, and Xuan'en in Hubei wear a large-collared, right-overlooking blouse and wide-legged pants. Miao in western Hunan have collarless blouses with wide lace embroidered on the sleeves and trouser legs, wrap their heads in plaid or green cloth turbans, and wear earrings, collars, bracelets, and other ornaments. Miao women's headdresses are of various styles, pulled up in a bun on the top of the head, with a variety of styles of head wrapping, some wrapped into a pointed top, dome, some of the hair wrapped around the bracket on the top of the head, a distinctive style. Their dress to Qiandongnan unique features, the silver jewelry nailed to the clothes into the "silver clothes", wearing a silver headdress shaped like a bull's horn, up to more than feet.

The Miao of Qiandongnan, Xiangxi, Hainan Island and Rongshui, Guangxi, the staple food of rice, but also corn, sweet potatoes, millet and other grains; Miao of Qiandongnan, Chuannan, northeastern Yunnan, corn, potatoes, buckwheat, oats and other staple food. Miao in southeast Guizhou region to the glutinous rice and vegetables sealed together in the altar, one or two months and then take food grains of vegetables, is a special flavor of pickles. Drinking hobbies are very common, in the event of a wedding or funeral, festivals or friends and relatives to visit, all with wine to entertain guests.

The architecture of the Miao people varies greatly from place to place. Qiandongnan residents live in wooden cottages and buildings. Buildings are generally two-story, architectural form is mostly "hanging foot building" (that is, according to the slope of the vertical pile, building on the pile), the roof for the double-slope. The roof is double-pitched. The upper layer of the roof stores grain and sundries, and the lower part of the footstool piles up sundries or raises livestock. Xiangxi and Guizhou Songtao and other places, the use of wooden structures, double-pitched tile roof or grass-roofed bungalows, each block of 3 to 5, "partial building" for the cookhouse or livestock pens. In the past, the landlords or rich people also built courtyards, and built high walls or stone towers enclosure. The walls of the houses of the Miao people in Wenshan, Yunnan Province, are mostly constructed by weaving bamboo strips and gluing clay on the outside, and the roofs are flat and grassy. Zhaotong area of the Miao residents live "right right room", that is, a few tree trunks with cross-lap paste, covered with thatch, with tree branches or bamboo weaving, paste mud for the wall of the house. Generally partitioned into two rooms, one for each animal and human. Hainan Island Miao live is long and narrow thatched houses, three a block, the eaves are longer, the eaves corridor is a resting place. South Sichuan and northwest Guizhou Miao live more Shi wall grass roof or tile roof houses.

The Miao are generally small, monogamous families in which property is inherited by the man and the housewife enjoys more power and status in the family. Elderly parents are usually supported by their young sons. In some areas, there is a father and son even the habit of the name, the son's name in the front, the father's name in the back, usually only call the name, not even the father's name. Due to the influence of Han patriarchal feudalism, some of them formulate character generations, establish ancestral halls and compile family trees. Miao young men and women are relatively free to marry, young men and women through the "traveling party" (Qiandongnan), "sitting village" (Guangxi Rongshui), "step on the moon" (Yunnan Wenshan, Chuxiong), "Jumping flowers" (Qianzhong, Qianxi), "meeting girls" (Xiangxi) and other social activities, free songs, love and marriage. In Yunnan, Chuxiong and other places, there is a "girl's room" system to choose a good match. There are also marriages arranged by the parents, usually through friends and relatives, to talk about the right family. Miao women have the custom of "not leaving their husbands' homes" after marriage, which is still retained, especially in Qiandongnan. In some areas, the Miao people also have "return girl", "turn room", "wife and sister marriage" and other customs.

The Miao believe that everything has a spirit or more ghosts and gods, worship ancestors, worship nature, and believe that the gods have irresistible power, whether to eliminate disasters and illnesses or to seek children and wealth, etc. are praying for blessings from the gods and ancestors. When praying for the elimination of calamities and evil spirits, the spirits are driven away by sorcerers. Sacrifice to the gods and ancestors is extremely solemn, Qiandongnan "eat bullock dirty" (drum society), Qianxiwestern "eat cattle", Xiangxi "still Nuo wish", "vertebrae cattle ", "eat pigs" and "drive ghosts", "eat ghosts", "sacrifice ghosts" and other activities, cost a lot. These activities cost a lot of money. In addition, natural objects (large trees, strange rocks) or man-made objects (wells, benches) are worshipped and sacrificed, and wine, meat, fish, chickens, ducks, glutinous rice, etc. are used as offerings. The minority people in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan believe in Catholicism and Christianity.

There are many Miao festivals, and the festivals celebrated by the Miao in different places are not exactly the same. Some areas in southeast Guizhou and Guangxi Rongshui County prevailed in the "Miao New Year", held in the old calendar nine - November of the d (rabbit) day or ugly (cattle) day, there are stamping drums, jumping Lusheng, horse racing, bullfighting, "touring" and other activities. "The Miao people in several counties near Guiyang are also very active. Guiyang near several counties of the Miao, every lunar April 8, are dressed in full costume to Guiyang City, near the fountain, playing the sheng flute, singing and talking to commemorate the ancient heroes of the legend, "Yanu". In addition, the Miao also have Dragon Boat Festival (Lichuan City, Enshi Prefecture, Hubei Province, is the hometown of the dragon, there is a famous folk song ----<Dragon Boat Tune>), Huashan Festival (the fifth day of the month of May), eat the new festival (lunar calendar, six, between July when the rice is ripe), Ching Ming Festival, Catch the Autumn Festival (autumn), and so on. Almost every year, the Miao people in Yunnan have stamped on the activities of the flower mountain, this stamping on the flower mountain although there are superstitious content, but it is the Miao people's traditional mass entertainment festival.