Yunnan rhyme culture, Yunnan rhyme custom and funeral

Yunnan rhyme culture, Yunnan rhyme custom and funeral

Yunnan has always been a multi-ethnic settlement, and the development of various ethnic groups is extremely uneven. Before 1950s, if Yunnan was in various development forms from primitive society to feudal society, Yunnan cloud culture was influenced by foreign cultures, and the funeral customs of all ethnic groups also had their own characteristics.

(1) burial mode and method

The burial styles and burial methods of various nationalities in Yunnan have been roughly divided into the following categories:

Cremation In the history of China, the frontier strongmen in the west generally adopted cremation, which was related to their nomadic economic life and special worship of fire. In modern times, the Yi, Tibetan, Naxi, Hani, Lahu, Pumi, Nu, Dulong, Jingpo and other ethnic groups related to the ancient Qiang nationality still retain the custom of cremation, but their specific implementation has changed. Among Tibetans, due to the influence of Tibetan Buddhist culture, cremation is considered to be the noblest funeral, which can only be carried out by living buddhas, lamas, tribal leaders, monks and secular bourgeoisie. Yi people are out of the concept of "cremating their ancestors"; Lahu nationality is out of family tradition. If a family ancestor is cremated because of his violent death, his descendants will also be cremated. Naxi, Hani, Pumi, Nu and other ethnic groups are the remnants of widespread cremation in history. Dulong and Lahu were cremated by the deceased. In addition, due to the influence of Southern Buddhism culture, Buddhists of Dai and Bulang ethnic groups, leaders of Wa ethnic groups, and those who died suddenly among Dai, Bulang, Jingpo and De 'ang ethnic groups were cremated, and Yao ethnic groups in Malipo, Xichou and Maguan were also cremated. In the process of cremation in Yunnan, the ways and methods of burial are also different, which are permeated with the influence of religious beliefs, living environment and living habits of various ethnic groups.

Burial is a kind of burial method widely used by all nationalities in the world. Historically, the Han nationality in China carried out burial. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a large number of Han people in the Central Plains have moved to Yunnan ethnic areas. As one of the advanced forms of Han culture, burial has had an impact on all ethnic groups in Yunnan. For example, the Naxi nationality in Lijiang changed from cremation to burial under the stipulation that the Qing court explicitly prohibited the burning of corpses. Under the influence of Han culture, Bai, Miao, Zhuang, Lisu, Achang, Mongolian and other ethnic groups accepted the concept of "being buried underground" of the Han nationality and implemented the system of burial. The Nu people in the Nujiang River Basin were buried under the influence of the buried Lisu people. Nowadays, except for sudden death and religious belief, all 24 ethnic groups in Yunnan are buried, while all ethnic groups in cities and towns are cremated under the impetus of * * * *, and cultural changes are constantly changing with time. Funerals of different nationalities in Yunnan vary greatly. Some have public cemeteries in the village, and some have family public cemeteries. When buried, some people use coffins, others don't, some people use bamboo and rattan baskets, and some ethnic groups in history also use pottery to hold bodies. Graves are built, not built, erected, not erected, and so on. They are really varied and have their own characteristics.

Celestial burial, also known as "bird burial", is a widely used burial style still reserved by Tibetans. Lamaism believes that celestial burial conforms to the spirit of "giving one's life to feed the tiger" mentioned in the biography of Sakyamuni, and the human soul can ascend to heaven with the eagle pecking at the corpse and get happiness in the afterlife. After the Tibetans in Yunnan died, they went to the temple for divination. If the soothsayers decide to bury them in heaven, they will transport the dead out of the window and send them to a fixed cemetery. Then, the celestial burial person dismembered the body, lit cypress branches, and smoke rose to "inform" the arrival of the condor. Tibetans are used to thinking that it is auspicious for eagles to eat bones. If there is a body, the funeral relatives will cremate it and the ashes will be scattered everywhere.

Water burial is a kind of burial style practiced by Tibetan, Dulong and Dai people in Yunnan. Water burial is the funeral of ordinary Tibetans, because the burial place is located in the grassland and lacks fuel. After death, the body was carried to the cemetery where the river was rushing, and the Lama was asked to recite the scriptures to pay homage. The immediate family cleaned the body, and then the whole body was thrown into the river and let it drift away. In some places, dismembered bodies are thrown into the river, and in some places, the bodies are decomposed into eight pieces and thrown into the river, commonly known as the next eight pieces. Dulong people think it is terrible to die of epidemic diseases and dead people, so they implement water burial. Dai people living by the river also buried the dead in the water.

Tree burial is a kind of "wind burial", which is a way of burial for ethnic groups whose main economic activities are hunting. According to legends handed down and fragments of song and dance lyrics, tree burial is one of the oldest burial customs of Yi people. According to legend, Meng Huo, the ancestor of the Yi nationality in the Han Dynasty, died. Meng Huo wrapped his body in satin and buried it on the branch of a pine tree. People sang and danced around the tree to show their condolences. Song and dance words called Meng Huo a pine tree, my concubine a fairy flower, and the fairy flower was to be buried in the pine tree, so the "tree burial" began. Legend has it that Yi people also carry out "barrel burial", because the bones will fall off after tree burial, so they will pick up the fallen bones, wrap them in silks and satins, put them in barrels, and put them in tree holes or ghost houses, which is called "ghost barrels".

Cliff burial is also a kind of wind burial, that is, open burial It is a burial custom to put human remains in cliff holes or cliffs. In ancient China, Pu, Yue, Ba, Liao and Han nationalities were popular for a long time. Since modern times, some ethnic groups such as Zhuang, Buyi, Miao, Yao and Gelao have had this custom, and there have also been cliff burials in the history of Yi people in Yunnan. There are four kinds of cliff burial, namely, cliff pier burial, in which burial tools are placed in the cracks of cliff stratification; Cliff cave burial: put the burial tools into the natural cliff cave; Cliff cave burial, the burial tools are placed in the excavated cliff cave niche and buried with hanging coffins. The ancestors of the Wang family of Dabimo, the Yi nationality in Yunnan, put their ashes in pottery pots in cliff caves, with spiritual tablets inside, surrounded by small wooden or iron household appliances and various livestock. Usually, ordinary people can't go in. Only when they are fasting and cleaning the dust can they go in by reading the Ancestors' Classics. The local Yi people once thought that their ancestors lived in cliff caves, and later generations saw their ancestors for their souls, so they were buried on the cliff.

Hanging coffin burial is a kind of cliff burial, and it is one of the funerals of ethnic minorities in southern China. It is called "hanging coffin" because it is drilled on the cliff, nailed with wood, and then put the coffin on it, or put one end of the coffin in a cliff hole and the other end on a stake nailed to the cliff. During the Five Dynasties Liang Dynasty, there were records about hanging coffins in China. Zhaotong, Zhenxiong, Yanjin, Weixin and other counties and cities in the northeast of Yunnan and neighboring places such as Gongxian, Xingwen and Junlian in Sichuan are the main distribution areas of hanging coffins.

(2) Funeral

Just as the burial methods are different, the funerals of various ethnic groups in Yunnan are also different, but they can be generally divided into several parts, such as funeral, corpse disposal, funeral, funeral, funeral (or cremation), crossing and so on. Because the core of the funeral customs of various nationalities in Yunnan is the concept of immortality of the soul, and its essence is that everything is for the living. Therefore, the object of funeral activities on the surface is the body of the deceased, but in fact it is the soul of the deceased, and all activities are subordinate to the purpose of benefiting the living. When someone dies, all ethnic groups should shoot (or shout loudly) to express their condolences, and then send someone to inform their immediate family members. Family members will wash the body of the deceased and put on new clothes. Hui people will wrap it in white cloth, and Jingpo, Pumi, Achang and Jinuo ethnic groups will contain broken silver in the mouth of the deceased. Most ethnic groups should prepare funerary objects for the dead, and those who bury the dead should prepare coffins for burial, which are good arrangements for the dead to live in another world. Paying homage to the dead is a dialogue between the living and the souls of the dead. Most people of all ethnic groups think that death means that the soul returns to live with its ancestors. Therefore, we must sing the scriptures for them and wash the horses for the dead before we can start. Let the dead be satisfied with everything, place hope on their souls and pray for the living. Funeral is based on the concept of burial, and the choice of cemetery embodies everything. If the living are rich, the descendants will be rich. Otherwise, the souls of the deceased will be dissatisfied and their families will be ill, and they must be buried again. All ethnic groups in Yunnan are afraid of the souls of the abnormal dead, so they must cross over and make the dead return to the place where they should go, such as the ceremony of "offering sacrifices to the wind" held by Naxi nationality and the ceremony of "cursing evil spirits and cutting off evil paths" held by Yi nationality.

Funerals held by various ethnic groups in Yunnan for the souls of the deceased combine people's emotional tendencies and utilitarian requirements, achieving the ideal goal of returning the souls of ancestors to their ancestors and enhancing the blood family and national cohesion. They also have their own set of dialectical thoughts when they treat death. The sacrificial words of Nu people say: "One generation dies, the other generation lives, the other generation is old, and the other generation is young. If you don't die, you will not be born. If you are not old, you will not be old. " The sacrificial words of Hani people say: "A big tree died and many small trees grew;" An old man is missing in the world, leaving a large group of descendants. "Take a positive attitude towards life and death, so the Yi people call death a" white happy event ",the Naxi people's funeral is" a drunkard's sake is not wine ",and the Hani and Lisu people dance heartily at the funeral.

In the long history, the funeral customs of all ethnic groups in Yunnan have been influenced by foreign cultures. For example, the dominant position of funeral etiquette of Han nationality in all ethnic groups; The influence of Tibetan Buddhism and Southern Buddhism on Tibetan, Dai, Bulang, De 'ang and other ethnic groups is the characteristic of Yunnan cloud culture.