Cultural Customs and Characteristics of the Yi People

The cultural customs of the Yi people include festivals and celebrations, marriage customs, etc., and features such as costumes, language and writing.

I. Cultural Customs of the Yi Ethnic Group

1. Festivals and Celebrations

The festivals and celebrations of the Yi Ethnic Group also have many traditional customs, such as the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, the most important is the Spring Festival, where the local people will dress in traditional costumes, firecrackers are set off in every house, New Year's Eve dinners are eaten, and ancestors are worshiped to express the blessing of the family.

2. Marriage Customs

The marriage customs of the Yi people are introduced by the families of both sides who choose the person who has the destiny to be introduced to them, and after the discussion between the parents of both sides, if both sides agree, the families of both sides will sign a marriage contract and set a date for the marriage. At the time of marriage, the Yi will wear traditional dress, according to traditional customs and etiquette, after a series of ceremonies, the bride and groom officially become husband and wife.

2. Characteristics of the Yi Ethnic Group

1. Dress

The Yi ethnic group has a large number of clans, living in a scattered, complex natural environment, and unbalanced socio-economic development, and its dress has formed obvious regional characteristics in texture, style, and ornamentation. They can be roughly divided into six major types according to the six Yi settlements in Liangshan, Wumengshan, Honghe, Southeast Yunnan, West Yunnan and Chuxiong.

2. Language and writing

The Yi language belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and there are six dialects in the north, east, south, southeast, west and center of the country, including five sub-dialects and 25 dialects.

Traditional Architecture of the Yi People

The traditional architecture of the Yi people is mainly wooden structures, with distinctive features and spatial flexibility. The most representative of them is the pavilion, which is one of the most characteristic of the Yi traditional architecture, and is mostly used in places such as clan temples, family houses and ancestral halls. The structure of the pavilion is generally composed of wooden pillars, rafters, beams and boards, etc. Most of the pavilions have one, two or more floors, decorated with colorful tiles on the top, and the interior is decorated with wood carvings, paintings and rattan weaving.

Traditional Yi architecture is characterized by simplicity, sophistication, structural rigor and durability, and occupies an important position in the life of the Yi people, and is known as the "treasure of the nation".

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Yi