The characteristics of the Dai people.

Dai language belongs to Zhuang-Dai language branch of Zhuang-Dong language family of Sino-Tibetan language family. Divided into Xishuangbanna dialect, Dehong dialect and Jinping dialect. The phonetic characters of the Dai people are derived from Sanskrit letters, which vary from place to place. During 1954, the characters were reformed and divided into Dai Na (Dehong), Dai Lu (Xishuangbanna), Dai Zhan (Ruili, Gengma and Lancang) and Jinping Dai. Xishuangbanna and Dehong are two Dai languages.

Thirdly, the astronomical calendar of the Dai nationality.

Dai people have their own traditional calendar. Dai language is called "Zulasaha", which means "Little Calendar". Its origin can be traced back to the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, and the current Dai calendar began before the Ming Dynasty. It is a kind of lunar calendar. The year of the calendar is the solar calendar year, that is, one revolution around the sun; The month of Dai calendar is lunar month, that is, the period is full moon. A year is divided into 65438+February, 30 days in a single month and 29 days in a double month. Taking June as the beginning of a year, its first month is equivalent to October in the summer calendar. The average year is 350 or 355 days, and leap year is 384 days. The Dai calendar began in 638 AD.

Fourthly, the medical care of Dai people.

As a science, Dai medicine is an important part of Dai science and culture. For thousands of years, in the struggle against diseases, the Dai people have constantly summed up their experiences, collected rich folk remedies and collected thousands of kinds of herbs. Among them, Danghaya is an important medical document of the Dai people.

According to the literature, when the Dai people moved to Jingyong, many villages died of epidemic diseases, but only one village in Bart, Jingyong, no one died, and everyone was strong. They have opened up many fields and their production has developed rapidly. One day, an old man named Bo went up the mountain to pick wild fruits. He passed by the village and was surprised to find that everyone in the village was healthy. He asked the villagers, "What do you eat? Why is everyone strong? " People in the village told him: "I didn't eat anything else, but when I first came, everyone went up the mountain to pick wild fruits and vegetables to eat every day." Maybe there is a reason for this. "

When Boya went back, she told the people in other villages about this situation and advised everyone to give it a try and pick wild vegetables up the mountain to eat. Everyone wanted to cure the disease, so they did as Bo Ya said. After a period of time, it really worked and the epidemic situation was significantly reduced. Boya pays attention to picking out samples from wild fruits and vegetables picked by everyone for preservation. In the future, as long as someone in the village is sick, he will find these fruits and vegetables for the patients according to the samples. Some of them will be fine if they are sick, and some of them will be less effective, but different foods will be effective. In this way, he slowly summed up and accumulated experience. Whenever someone gets sick (mainly malaria at that time), they are treated according to different types of diseases. With the gradual reduction of diseases and people's health, Dai people call Bo's teeth "cliff", which means people who can cure diseases. Since then, Dr. Dai has appeared. After writing, it was recorded and became a relatively complete Dai medical book today.

Traditional medical manuscripts of the Dai nationality: classic medical works of the Dai nationality. The theory and treatment methods of Dai medicine in medicine, prescription and preparation are recorded. Up to now, there are many kinds of "laurel leaf books" written on laurel leaves and "cotton paper books" made of paper supported by Broussonetia papyrifera bark. This is a treasure in China's medical heritage. At present, according to these manuscripts, Dehong Dai Medicine Prescriptions and Xishuangbanna Dai Medicine Records have been compiled and published in both Chinese and Dai languages.

Fifth, the religious beliefs of the Dai people.

The Dai people are a people who believe in Southern Buddhism, and the Dai language is called "Butashasanna". It has a far-reaching influence on the politics, economy, culture and art of Dai society. It was introduced into Dai areas in the 6th-8th century. Prior to this, Dai ancestors believed in polytheism, that is, primitive religion. Due to the widespread spread of Buddhism, Buddhist temples are very common in Dai areas. It seems natural to send one's son to a temple as a monk, especially in Xishuangbanna, where almost all boys have to enter the temple to become monks at the age of 8- 10. They learned to read scripture there and usually returned to China in 1 ~ 5. There are 84,000 Tibetan scriptures in Dai language, most of which are engraved on the leaves of Bayeux, which is called Bayeux. Some of them are the works and customs of Dai monks, which are developed and supplemented according to the Buddhist meaning.

Sixth, Dai literature.

Ethnic literature: Dai people have rich folk literature works, including long narrative poems, fables, myths, legends and fairy tales. Many famous narrative poems, such as Zhao Shutun and Moody Nano, He E and luo sang, and Aunt's Story, are famous at home and abroad.

Epic: Bata Magaro, also known as the Southern Division Bata Maga Pasadai. Dai epic of creation. The content includes the creation of the world, the formation of human beings, the rise, migration and settlement of Dai ancestors. Among them, there are many Dai myths and legends of historical figures, which are ancient books and documents for studying Dai ancient myths and society.

History Book: The original name of Lu's history is Silk (Xishuangbanna Chronicle). This book records the main historical facts of the Dai people from 1 180, when Ba Zhen, the leader of the Dai nationality, entered Xishuangbanna to establish the Kingdom of Jin Jing, to 1950, when Xishuangbanna was liberated. There is a translation of Li published by Yunnan University 1947, which is called History of the Dead. The translations range from 1 180 to 1864. 1958 Zhang's supplementary translation 1844 ~ 1950, entitled "Continuation of History-Events in Xishuangbanna in the Last Hundred Years". There are other detailed editions of this book. Lushi provides many valuable materials for future generations to understand the social history of the Dai people, and it is an important historical document of the Dai people.

Seven, Dai drama

There are Thai-Burmese songs and dances in Xishuangbanna, and there are Dai dramas with China characteristics in Longteng border. Performing musical plays at large religious gatherings, such as the annual Buddhist conference on Xuanwei Street in the car. For three consecutive nights, there were song and dance performances, historical stories, religious myths and love legends, while the costumes were varied, including paper-tied dragons, peacocks, turtles, cranes, deer mussels and colorful paintings. The actor dressed as a beautiful woman split the peacock wrapped in paper in two, grabbed its wings with both hands and flew. An actor dressed as a young man dances with a paper deer on his back. Chinemys reevesii used a person to lie in the turtle's stomach, with four feet on his hands and feet, and an organ in the turtle's neck; It can make the glans of penis suddenly protrude a few feet, and then shrink into the abdomen, making the audience laugh.

Dai Opera: Dai Opera has a history of about 200 years. Early plays include Twelve Horses, Gongsun Tilling the Field, and Long Spoon Pair. At the beginning of this century, Yingjiang Tusi established the first Dai Opera Troupe. On the basis of performing the original repertoire, it absorbed and adapted many Peking Opera and Yunnan Opera repertoires, and at the same time absorbed their costumes, props, musical instruments and other elements, enriching Dai Opera. Generally speaking, there are not many characters in Dai dramas, which mainly reflect the production, labor and living customs of working people. The performance form is flexible and lively, short and pithy, with strong life breath and national characteristics, which is deeply loved and welcomed by the Dai people.

Dai drama: a kind of Dai drama. It is popular in Yingjiang, Luxi, Lianghe, Longchuan, Ruili and other counties in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and the Dai settlements in Baoshan, Tengchong and Longling counties in Baoshan. Dai opera is based on Dai folk songs and dances such as "Errenzhuan" (duet between men and women), "Beating White Horse" (a song and dance that everyone hopes on holidays) and "Hai Yin" (a song and dance performed by cattle). After learning from Yunnan Lantern Festival, it developed into songs and dances such as Twelve Horses and Butun La (the old man ploughing the fields) with certain plots and characters.

The performance of Dai opera is enriched by absorbing the performance skills of Han opera on the basis of refining various dances of the nation, which has distinctive national characteristics. Traditional plays include Luohan, Thousand-petal Lotus, Red Lotus Treasure, A Warm East Sea, Langjinbu, Seven Sisters, Sinan King and so on, which are adapted from Dai folklore and folk narrative poems. There are three saints returning to heaven, Wang Mang usurping the throne, three rivers flowing eastward, woodcut Zhai, Huaguoshan, Pan and so on. This is based on the Han drama and novel Romance. There are also "Fighting in the South and Fighting in the North" and "Sister Zhang" adapted from historical stories and legends. There are new modern plays, such as Three Back Rocks, Wedding on Stone, Golden Lake Edge, On the Border and Three Ugly Meetings. The more influential plays include Butun La, Tao, He E and Zuo Yannong, etc.

Most of the literary works of the Dai nationality have a strong mythical color. The oldest creation myth, the most widely circulated among the Dai people, is Busanggai and Yasanggai. Up to now, the Dai people still call Busanggai and Yesangai "our ancestors". There are magical legends about opening up Xishuangbanna, Mengzhe, Yiwu, building villages, cutting firewood and repairing houses. In the Dai area, there are also stories about smart people, such as,, and Ai Si. These idealized characters have omnipotent skills and superhuman wisdom.

Dai poetry includes ballads and long narrative poems. There are professional singers or semi-professional singers in Dai nationality, which is called "Zanha" in Dai language.

Zanha: Dai folk songs. "Zanha" means a folk singer in Dai language. Zanha singing is a traditional literary form loved by Dai people. The form is flexible and simple, and you can sing it anytime and anywhere. It is called salt in the life of Dai people. Traditional songs are mostly folk stories and myths and legends, and there are also hunting songs and wine songs improvised by artists, such as "Calling Huashutun", "Four osmanthus trees in Myanmar", "Qingxin House" and "Halujiao". The newly recorded tracks include Song of the Liusha River and Rainbow. Zanha plays an extremely important role in the inheritance and development of Dai folk literature. Their songs are beautiful and vivid, and their characters are delicate and euphemistic, which has a strong artistic appeal. They have the ability to improvise and are deeply loved and welcomed by the masses.

Ancient ballads are the seeds of Dai literature, and they are still circulated among the people in oral and handwritten forms. There are many short stories in "Ancient Songs of Dai Nationality" published by China Folk Literature and Art Publishing House (Yunnan), which reflect the life, labor, thoughts and feelings of Dai ancestors in primitive times. For example, "Song of the Centipede" describes that human beings gradually understand the objective world through practice; The song of fetching water describes that human beings gradually change their living conditions; Song of Picking Fruits and Song of Picking Mushrooms describe the working life of human beings. These poems are simple in form and lively in rhythm.

Narrative long poems are bright pearls in the treasure house of Dai literature. Basically, it can be divided into three categories: myth narrative poems, ode to menstruation and love tragedy narrative poems. Mythical narrative poems are basically similar to myths and legends. There are many songs about aunts. The word "A Lun" is said to come from Sanskrit and refers to a skillful craftsman. In Dai language, it refers to a hero who is poor, strong-willed, skilled, honest and kind, or a kind person who is blessed and capable. Buddhists describe these stories as stories about the reincarnation of Sakyamuni. There are some elements in Allen's stories that promote Buddhist teachings, but the overall content is far beyond the scope of Buddhist thought, which can be called a collection of Dai folk stories, covering the social structure, political system, class relations, ethics, marriage and love at that time.

With the introduction of Buddhism into Dai areas, Indian culture has had a great influence on Dai literature. Wu was developed from a short story in India. The plot of "The Peace of Langashi" is similar to the Indian epic "Ramayana", but the theme, characters and story structure have changed. Long poems strengthen Zhao Langma's war against the Ten Demons and become a huge picture reflecting social life, political struggle and religious struggle.

Dai Buddhism is rich in preserved classics, and the translated Sanzang Buddhist scriptures include quite a few classics in classics, law and theory, as well as many Tibetan classics. Some of these classics are written in Pali and transliterated in Dai letters, which retain the early features of Hinayana Buddhist classics, and some are carefully produced by Dai monks according to Buddhist teachings, recording many historical, geographical, linguistic and literary materials about Dai areas. Most of the classics in Xishuangbanna, Menglian and Gengma are engraved on the leaves of Bayeux, which is called Bayeux Classic. In other areas, they are mostly written on local textured cotton paper.

Eight, Dai music

Dai music has a unique national style, including folk songs, song and dance music, rap music and opera music.

Folk songs: Dai folk songs include folk songs, narrative songs, sad songs and religious songs.

Folk songs: mostly sung by young people or men and women in the fields and forests. Some express their love, praise their hometown and celebrate a happy life, while others improvise. There are two kinds of folk songs in Dehong area: "Shouma" and "Shoutongmao". The folk songs in Jinping area, called "Soul Mao Sao" in Dai language, are sung by young men and women at night, accompanied by A Qin. The tunes are mostly Gongdiao, but they end with a sign. In addition, Yuanjiang and Jinggu have different styles of folk songs.

Ballads: including Shouxiu (parrot song), Shouwu Oh (ballad), Shounuanhong (running water song), Sanghong (phoenix love poem), Tuo, Suo and Sen. The song called Xiuqing is a folk song used to sing love poems or narrative poems, which is popular in Ruili and mangshi of Dehong. The tune is full of chanting, similar to drum tune, and is often sung by middle-aged and elderly people at home. In Dehong Ruili area, it is popular to shout Wu Oh and warm. The former is full of intonation, while the latter is strong in singing, and the feathering mode with inflections is often used. Sanghong is an ancient form of poetry popular in Xishuangbanna, and it is also a lyric poem expressing the sincere love of young people. It has a collection of popular songs. Singing is similar to Zanha tune, with free melody according to words, which can be matched with money, GUI, etc. , or oratorio. Ye, Suo and Sen are popular in Meng 'an area on the border of Menglian County. Ye's music is lyrical, with a little freedom of speed, mostly in feather mode, often accompanied by a bowstring instrument Dolo. Suo's music is more active and has a faster rhythm, and mostly adopts the Shang mode. Mori has a strong melody, mostly feathering mode. When singing, Suo and Sen are accompanied by plucked instruments.

Elegy: Dai language called "Shout for the sea", including "Shout for the sea", "Shout for the sea", "Shout for the sea" and "Shout for the dead", spread all over Dehong. Calling the sea means crying in Dai language, and women cry and sing at funerals. Calling Sister-in-law Haisai is a girl's marriage, and when the mother and daughter cry, the lyrics show their love. The tunes of the two are basically the same, the range is not wide, the melody is like the decomposition of Gong Yin's triad, and the long tone at the end of the sentence is often accompanied by a strong falling tone. Call, meaning Qin Song; Shout and jump, that is, the meaning of oral string songs. You don't have to be accompanied by an instrument when you sing, but you often sing when you are sad.

Religious songs: there are Buddhist worship tunes, chanting tunes and pouring water to pray for blessings in Dehong area; Xishuangbanna has the tune of worshipping Buddha, ascending monk, chanting fast and chanting slow. In addition, there are the tune of offering sacrifices to gods reflecting primitive worship, the tune of being a teacher and mother sung by witches, and the tune of divination sung by Liu Shen and wizards. Its * * * same feature is that the tone is close to reciting. In addition, there are hypnotic songs and nursery rhymes.

Song and Dance Music: Song and Dance Music includes Peacock Song, Drum Tune, Twelve Horses Tune, Ira Club, Handwriting, etc. Singing on the first day of the lunar new year, rushing to swing to celebrate, accompanied by percussion instruments such as elephant foot drums.

Peacock Song: Dai language is called "Shout Luo Yong", which is popular in Dehong area. Singing and peacock dance's performance alternated. Music is light and lively, mostly in the form of tones.

Drum Tune: The Dai language is called "Shouting the Sea Lantern", which is popular in Dehong mangshi and Shefang. It can be divided into drum tune (shouting light) and drum rap tune (shouting light). These two types of music are similar, the former uses Gong tune and the latter uses Zheng tune. Song and dance interspersed.

Twelve horse tones: Dai language is called "calling Ma Xishuang", which is popular in Yingjiang and Lianghe areas. By 12, young men and women are singing and dancing with bamboo colored paper around their waists, which shows the situation that young people meet and sing in pairs on the way to catch up, as well as the production activities in 12 every year. The melody is lyrical, mostly business model.

Yilahui: It is a kind of mass song and dance, which is popular all over Xishuangbanna. Every year, when dragon boats set off firecrackers in the Water-splashing Festival, people sang and danced, and the atmosphere was warm. The lyrics are basically three sentences, and the music is relatively simple, mostly composed of three-tone or four-tone sequences in feathering mode.

Rap music: mainly popular in Xishuangbanna and Menglian. Dai people invite folk singers to participate in celebrations, building new houses, getting married and giving birth, and Buddha ceremonies. This semi-professional artist is called "Zanha" in Xishuangbanna and "Wogan" in Menglian. There are Zanha tune, Wogan tune, Menglian tune and so on. One person sings, one person accompanies, and two musical instruments accompany, namely cymbals and Xiqi. Melody is closely combined with language, and the rhythm is relatively stable. The music structure is basically the repeated changes of paragraphs, and the lyrics are mostly rhyming. Because the structure of lyrics is free, the number and length of phrases are not fixed; Musical instrument accompaniment often forms a polyphonic relationship with the voice.

Opera music: Dai opera is developed on the basis of Dai folk songs and song and dance music, and draws lessons from the expression means of Han opera art, and spreads in Dehong, Baoshan, Lincang and other Dai inhabited areas. Dai opera includes a variety of male and female vocals, with male voices mostly in feather mode and female voices mostly in sign mode. Since the 1950s, Dai drama has absorbed a variety of Dai folk songs and dance music, enriching the singing content and enhancing the expressive force of music. The aria of Dai opera is basically a section composed of upper and lower sentences, and its changes are repeated. Because the number of lyrics is more or less, the length of aria phrases is also different. In the past, Dai opera was only accompanied by drums, gongs and cymbals, and then gradually adopted a variety of national musical instruments and western stringed instruments to form a new Dai opera band.

National musical instruments: Dai national musical instruments include reed flute, cucurbit silk, clarinet and konoha. Plucked musical instruments include piano, oral string, etc. Bowstring instruments include western reeds and horn reeds. Percussion instruments include elephant foot drum, light dragon, light edge, light state and cymbals.

Luo Mang: percussion instruments of Dai, Wa, Zhuang, Jingpo and De 'ang. Popular in Yunnan, Guangxi and other ethnic areas. Manggong is round and thick, made of brass. The gong has a low face and a nipple bulge in the center. There are two pimp holes next to the gong. When playing, the left hand carries the gong and the right hand holds the hammer. There are also records of different sizes woven into awns and hung on wooden frames to play. Mostly used for song and dance accompaniment and instrumental ensemble.

Nine, Dai dance

Elephant Foot Drum: a folk dance popular among the Dai, Jingpo, Achang, De 'ang, Wa and Bulang ethnic minorities in Yunnan. It is a kind of dance for men to entertain themselves, and it is named after the dancer wears an elephant foot drum. The elephant foot drum is hollowed out with mango or kapok tree trunks and covered with cowhide, which looks like an elephant foot drum. Drum length varies, about 1.7 m for the elderly, about 1 m for the middle-aged and elderly, and about 0.7 m short. Long elephant foot drum dance is dignified and natural, with slow pace, changeable drum beating methods and rich drum rhythm; China's elephant foot drum dance is steady and solid, vigorous and powerful, with large movements, such as swinging drums, rotating drums and rolling legs. The short elephant foot drum is famous for its flexibility and prancing, and there are competitive contents such as fighting drums and drumming. Elephant-foot drum is a representative dance in Yunnan Province, which is led by elephant-foot drum in all grand festivals and dance ranks.

Peacock dance: Dai people call it "Galoyong", "Fanluoyong" or "Cananlo". It is the most popular dance of the Dai people, which is popular in dehong autonomous prefecture and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. Xishuangbanna is called the hometown of peacocks. In the eyes of Dai people, peacock is a symbol of good luck, happiness, beauty and kindness. Therefore, peacock has become the most popular folk dance of Dai people. In the celebration of the Songkran Festival, dancing peacock dance is an essential activity. At that time, Dai family members would get together, play manggong, play elephant foot drum and dance beautiful peacock dance to celebrate the festival. Peacock dance was originally a costume dance. The actor wears a golden crown of bodhisattva, a diamond mask on his face, a peacock tied with colored paper or cloth around his waist, and his hands holding the tail of peacock wings with strings, making various graceful peacock movements with the rhythm of gongs and drums. Later, they danced without props, accompanied by elephant foot drums and manggongs. Peacock dance is very popular in Xishuangbanna Dai area, and almost every village has a good dance.

Garland Dance: The Dai language is called "Jiadong", which is a collective dance of young people. Mainly popular in Dehong Prefecture and parts of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. Nowadays, it is only danced on major festivals, which has become an organized dance performance. In the garland dance, garlands are made of bright flowers tied to bamboo grates about two meters long. Hold both ends of the wreath with both hands when dancing, and emphasize the change of the wreath while moving the pace. And form patterns with national characteristics. When the garland dance jumps to bliss, it is conducted by one person, and the dancers turn from adagio to allegro together, with steps and "wrong jumps".

Dapeng Bird Dance: Dapeng Bird Dance is called "Lun Jia" in Dai language. This is an ancient folk dance, and Dai people dance in grand festivals. Mainly popular in Ruili County and dehong autonomous prefecture. Dapeng bird dance is vigorous and powerful, rough and powerful. Dance mainly shows the action of Dapeng bird fighting the rain god and its temperament of not being afraid of violence. The action changes quickly and forcefully, and the modeling time is long. The "three bends" dance has prominent edges and corners. For example, the appearance action is generally a big jump followed by a big dance, showing the heroic spirit of Dapeng bird falling rapidly from the air. Claw hand (finger fan) and palm hand are used, which strengthen the action. There are only one or two performers in Dapeng Bird Dance. In the past, we used to wear Dapeng bird props and masks when dancing, but now most of them have been abandoned and dance movements have been fully developed. Drums are extremely rich and deep and powerful.

Ten, wear art.

Dai brocade: a kind of textile with national style produced and used by Dai people. Dai brocade is a colorful fabric with ramie as the raw material, and the pattern is geometric pattern, which is woven by the method of picking flowers. Dai brocade is woven with a waist machine. The woven width is not wide and the length is limited. Fine ramie yarn is woven into plain weave as ground weave and coarse ramie yarn dyeing as color weft. The plain part has no pattern, but when colored weft is used, the weft floats on the surface of the fabric. Diamond palindromes composed of small squares are commonly used in Dai brocade. When the diamond pattern is turned over, it is often replaced by a weft of another color, so the color tone on the fabric surface often changes with the oblique conversion of the diamond pattern. Tone requires harmony, with brown and black Dai brocade patterns as the main pattern. Dai brocade takes picking flowers as the pattern, and a large number of floating patterns appear on the surface of the fabric. Warped warp yarns are wound on wooden rollers, then pass through beam splitters and healds, and weft yarns are wound on small tubes. When knitting, you can hang the wooden roller wrapped with warp yarn on the frame and unfold the warp yarn, which has been painted with patterns. In brocade, only one shuttle needs to weave in plain weave when lifting the heald, and the other shuttle needs to pick up the warp yarn according to the pattern before weaving, and then weave two colored weft yarns at a time with double weft colored yarn. When beating-up, press the weft with the beating-up knife. This method is not suitable for producing fabrics that are too wide and too thin, and the pattern should not be too complicated. Dai brocade has strong texture and beautiful patterns, and is often used for quilt cover or decoration. Dai brocade, with its unique artistic style, as a kind of arts and crafts, is also loved by people of other nationalities.

Xi。 Dai architecture

Architectural art is unique, especially the temple tower and the bamboo bridge across the river. Dai Buddhist temples are exquisite and magnificent. Sculptures and murals in temples not only have the artistic style of South Asia, but also show the influence of Central Plains culture. They are the fine products of Dai plastic arts. Pagodas have various styles, such as King Kong throne, dense eaves, pavilions, admiralty and so on. Pagodas are also divided into single towers, twin towers and group towers. Most of the towers are a big tower in the middle and several small towers around. For example, the Manmeng Machi Tower in Yingjiang has more than 40 small towers, just like the stars holding the moon, rising into the sky and imposing.

Dai bamboo house: Bamboo house is a special living form created by Dai people according to local conditions. Daizhulou is a two-story building made entirely of bamboo. People live upstairs and livestock are tied downstairs. Columns, beams and roof trusses are made of thick bamboo, walls are made of bamboo pieces, cut bamboo is flattened to make floors, doors and windows are also made of bamboo, and the roof is covered with thatch or sunflower leaves. Part of the ground floor is overhead, used for raising cattle, pounding rice or stacking sundries, and some are surrounded by bamboo walls as granaries or kitchens. There are living halls and bedrooms on the second floor, and there are verandahs and balconies on one or both sides. The slope of the roof is steep, and ventilation holes are set at both ends of the roof ridge. The eaves are low and far-reaching, playing the role of shading and rain. There are stairs under the porch for people to go up and down. Dai bamboo building is cool, clean and bright, and it can also guard against the attack of wild animals, so it is very safe.

Twelve. Entertainment of Dai people

Packet loss: Packet loss is not only a traditional entertainment activity that Dai young men and women like, but also a way for them to choose objects and find lovers. Whenever the Dai New Year comes, the girls carefully make a polygonal cloth bag with flower strips, which contains cottonseed, with flower spikes at the four corners and a rope about 60 cm long in the middle, embroidered with various patterns. This is a girl's token of love-flower bag. The bag was lost, and several men and women were on both sides of the square, throwing bags at each other. Whoever doesn't receive the bag and drops it on the ground will be punished. If the man can't receive it, he will lose the money in the bag to the woman. If the woman can't receive it, he will lose the jewelry to the man. The man will get the winner and show it at home, but he won't keep it for himself. I will still return the original to the woman the next day. Every spring, there is a banquet where guests lose their bags. On this day, the girls in the nearby village were all dressed up and came to the square. There must be fifty or sixty people. Everyone is carrying a cotton seed bag, and an elderly leader is holding a blue flower. The foreign guests took a lot of copper coins to fight in the square, and the distance between them was less than 50 feet. Dai girls didn't wait for you to gain a foothold, so they threw fifty or sixty cottonseed bales one by one. Of course, most of them fell to the ground, so they lost. A group of women competed for the prize and each got three copper coins. In the next game, the guests still threw the cotton bag in the past, but they couldn't get it, and each of them sent a flower. In this way, all the copper coins are lost and the flowers are scattered, so you can't attend the party satisfactorily.

Water-splashing Festival: The Dai people's bathing Buddha Festival, also known as the Water-splashing Festival, is a carnival day for young men and women. On the day of the Songkran Festival, the young men and women in the village went to the mountains in droves early in the morning to pick wild flowers and take them to the Buddhist temple for Buddha worship. Put a statue of Buddha in the yard at noon and bathe the Buddha with clean water. After taking a bath, water the flowers. Men and women splash water on each other for fun, wait until they are soaked, and then carry water on the streets together. When they meet people, they splash it with water. Whether it's the toast or the Han Palace, they only smile. It is auspicious to be splashed with water on this day, so people deliberately go out into the street to let young people splash water wildly, and they don't start to enjoy themselves until there is water all over the street.

Dragon Boat Race: On Duanyang Day every year, Dai people hold dragon boat races. During the competition, they used small wooden boats that usually sailed in the river and tied them with colorful flowers. Each boat is driven by many young people, who race for speed on the river. Hundreds of miles of men and women dressed up on both sides of the river watched, gongs and drums were loud and lively. The winner will receive a prize.

Holden: Holden is called "Gong Fei" in Dai language. On the night of the Songkran Festival, people can see the Dai people putting huge lanterns in the air. Lantern burning is a traditional activity of the Water-splashing Festival. It is said that when Buddhism was introduced into Xishuangbanna, it competed with primitive religion for missionary rights, and Buddhism used fire lanterns to compete with primitive religion for higher status. As a result of the competition, lanterns rose higher than Gao Sheng, Buddhism won and lanterns were circulated. Later, putting on lanterns became a spiritual sustenance for Dai's family. People tie money and other things to the bottom of lanterns and let them take these things to the sky, and at the same time take people's souls to the sky after death. Today, the Dai family has given the lighting a new content, and it flies to the sky with the beautiful ideals and wishes of the Dai family.

Lanterns are made of cotton paper. It takes hundreds of cotton paper to make a lantern. The bottom of the fire lamp is not paste, it is wrapped into a wick with dozens of kilograms of cotton thread and soaked in vegetable oil. When lighting a lamp, first spread the uninflated lamp with a bamboo pole, and then light the wick. After the wick is lit, the hot airflow expands the withered paper bag-type fire lamp into an oval balloon. At this time, as long as you release the hand at the bottom of the fire lamp, it will rise slowly like a hydrogen balloon. Good quality fire lamps can run in the air for days and nights. From the ground, they look like stars in the sky.

Thirteen, Dai costumes

Dai women pay attention to clothes, pursue lightness, beauty and elegance of clothes, and coordinate the colors of clothes, which are all excellent. It is a remarkable feature of Dai costumes that young women wear them on their heads. Bright colors of women's clothes