What are the characteristics of the Qiang culture?

The Qiang people are famous for their unique and exquisite architectural art. Among them, the towers, stone-built houses, rope bridges and trestles are the most famous. Watchtower: stone blocks, stone pieces with thick rice paste made of cement bonded together. Usually have four corners, hexagonal, octagonal forms. Up to thirteen or fourteen layers, up to more than ten feet high, durable. From the functional point of view, there are used for guarding the "sentry watchtower" and for the actual defense of the "war watchtower". To date, Aba County, Li County, Taoping Qiang village still retains three stone towers. Zhuangfang: this is the Qiang people on their own housing name. Square, generally people are five-story high. The first floor is used to raise livestock; the second floor is "mida house" and living room, "mida house" is the Qiang family fire pit, equivalent to the Han's hall, above the fire pit for sacrifice; the third floor is storage "pig dart The third floor is a place for storing "pig dart" bacon; the fourth floor is a storeroom for piling up grain and sundries; the fifth floor is a small platform and altar called "Ruoqig", which is a place for enshrining "Abba Mubi Ta" (the White Stone God) and worshipping the gods. On the roof is a dam for drying grain and a place for children to play. One of the oldest, most mysterious and most characteristic of the Qiang people is the Taoping Qiang Village in Li County, which has been described as a "mysterious oriental fortress".

Craftsmanship unique cloud Qiang village and towers building

Qiang village built on the high mountains, by a few families to one or two hundred families living in the village. Walled generally built towers. Qiang Zhai towers have an ancient history, 2000 years ago, "Hou Han Shu? Southwest Barbarians biography" described by the Ran white people "according to the mountains to live stop, base stone for the room, the height of more than ten feet" of the so-called "Qionglong" that is the meaning of today's Qiang towers.

The Qiang cottage site selection, almost all in the high mountains in the terrain of the dangerous areas, sunny and windy, solid foundations, not subject to flash floods, firewood and water convenient, from the arable land close to the place of concentrated housing. Each house compound can make full use of the limited flat land under the premise, combined with the characteristics of the terrain changes, along the contour layout, divided into platforms to build rooms, arranged in a long strip. The houses are closely connected to each other and to each other, and the crisscrossing lanes are used as the transportation of the whole fortress and are closely connected to the gates of each house. The lanes are generally very narrow, some of them are 1-2 meters wide, and some of them can only allow two people to brush past each other. The whole Qiang village is interlocked and integrated. Larger Qiangzhai, including towers building, as if a rigorous structure, the construction of complex ancient castles.

House building materials are mostly locally sourced materials, and environmental conditions have a close relationship. Qiang Feng, Yanglong cottage, to block stone, slate plus yellow mud. Turnip cottage, Buwa cottage to yellow mud rammed or both constitute.

Housing is generally two-story or three-story flat-roofed houses, the whole into a trapezoidal shape, the back wall and the upper part of the house is higher than the front half. The lower level of livestock, through the courtyard door, the middle level of people, the top level for stacking grain, etc., the upper level of the back of the small roof for the Baishi God. The way of living arrangement is the customary belief that people are above the livestock and the god is above the people.

The water supply of the Qiang village can flow all over the village, and there is a waterway supplying water to every house. The water inlet is built at the highest point of the village, leading to the canal water or spring water, the water outlet, such as the Dujiangyan water conservancy project generally use the natural impulse of the water natural water distribution. The waterway is generally repaired alongside the lane, and the channel is covered with stone slabs under the aqueduct coiled and flowing through the whole cottage. Many places on the canal have skylights, for each family to get water, washing place, Qiang Feng, Taoping Qiang Village is the most typical. This way of taking water is skillfully conceived and scientific, and the experts who study water conservancy exclaim that it is the water culture of the Qiang people.

Clothing

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the clothing of the Qiang people was commonly worn as "hemp cloth shirts" and "shirts". The hemp (commonly called "fire hemp"), which was produced by the Qiang people, was peeled and spun into yarn, which was then woven into cloth, and then boiled in water with wood ash to bleach it. The "husband's shirt" is made of thin thread spun from cow and sheep's wool, woven into cloth, and sewn together. In addition, there are also leather coats, which are made from the skins of cows, sheep, or hunted sheep, goats, and donkeys, and which are short and sleeveless, and which are worn on top of burlap shirts.

The Qiang men like to wrap the green or white bandana, wearing homemade knee-length white linen or yindan blue cloth long shirt, jacket a sheepskin jacket, the waist girdle pick flower belt. In the neighboring Songpan, Heishui area men also like to keep long hair, wrapped into a silk thread braided into a braid raked into a bun on the back of the head. Qiang women like to wrap the green or white bandana, clothes generally have lace, collar inlaid with a row of silver ornaments, waist embroidered belt, foot wear hook tip embroidered shoes, like to take oversized earrings and circles, felt, silver medallions and other ornaments. The most famous is the ingenious "embroidery", has become the nine ring road on a strange flower.

With the development of the times, people's living standards improve, Qiang clothing has undergone many changes. However, the unique national characteristics of Yunyun shoes, embroidered shoes, pointed shoes, embroidered hoop waist and traditional leather coats are still common today.

Dietary customs:

The Qiang people also like to drink their own smack wine, and the most characteristic is the smoked "pig fat", which is also a good gift for guests. On New Year's Day, the whole village gets together, burns a bonfire, drinks delicious smack wine, sings songs, and dances in pots and pans, all in a lively atmosphere.

Marriage

The Qiang marriage customs are relatively complicated, and the marriage customs in each Qiang area are similar. The marriage program has the following eleven items.1, betrothal: parents seeking marriage for their children, first please "red master" (Note: matchmaker) with two bottles of wine and snacks and so on to talk about the marriage, the female parents agree to receive "red master", or else return the gift of thanks. If agreed, the male family sent "red master" with two pounds of pork, two bottles of wine to the female family to eat "Xu Kou wine". At this time do not invite outsiders, only the family and the "red master" agreed to eat "engagement wine" date. 2, engagement wine according to the number of women's house family, the men's home to prepare meat and barley wine a altar, the women's home to ask the house family to arrive, by the "Shi than" (Note: Duan Gong). "(Note: Duan Gong) to the gods through the white to seek blessings, this wine is also known as" ringing altar wine ". 3, the wedding wine, the male family that the wedding, and please" red master "to bring gifts to the female family to convey, the female family will generally agree, if the female family economic difficulties, and the male family negotiation funding. If the woman's family is in financial difficulty, she will negotiate with the man's family for financial support, and after the recognition, she will eat the "flower arrangement wine". 4, report the period of wine: the man's family will ask the "Shibi" to choose the period of time according to the man's birth date, and then give it to the "red master" by sealing with red paper, and prepare wine, meat and dyes. And prepare wine and meat and colorful cloth, go to the woman's home to report the period, please house family and the four major relatives, explaining the male wedding preparations, the female family, how many people to send relatives, etc. 5, pre-wedding preparations: the male party to ask the walled village relatives, neighbors to help, and a clear division of labor. All the helpers in the day before the wedding, please go to the "scaffolding", eat "scaffolding wine". 6, the female flower night: the male family scaffolding day is the female family flower night time, this day to eat the flower night wine family and neighbors and house family to the female family to hang gift or to the bride to throw worship money, things, the bride in front of the shrine while crying and worship. 7, the hair of the relatives: the male family wedding preparations: the male party to invite the cottage, neighbors to help, with a clear division of labor. 7, hair pro: at this time everyone is very excited, suona constantly blowing "stay in love with the tune", the bride and her mother, aunt, sister-in-law, friends cry together. 8, worship hall (also known as the week hall), in addition to worship "Nacha Hall" (white stone god in front of the god of worship God, Qiang Zu), worship "Wugutang" (worship liters or buckets filled with barley), more or less the same as the Chinese custom. 9, on the rituals on the table: after worship, the bride worship salute to the guests smoke. 10, men and women have to be in the home of the main feast on the second day, thanks to the guests, thanks to the help of deacons, the male also thank "red ", thanks to the "suona". 11, back to the door: the third day of the groom with the bride to bring gifts to the father-in-law's home back to the door. This wedding custom has been used, based on the program in the settlement of the different less change.

Funeral

The cremation custom of the Qiang people has a long history. Ancient books say that "when a Qiang dies, he burns and raises his ashes", "when a person dies without a coffin, he burns a coffin for everyone", and "when he dies, he burns his body". There are a variety of legends of cremation customs, one said for qiang ancestor flame than wa is a hairy people, and the god of the sky's daughter of the wood Jizhu love, the god of the sky anger, punished for burning fire, want to burn him, burn than wa by the heavenly fire burned after the hair becomes handsome; said for qiang ancestor up to heaven to steal fire several times was caught. After using the white stone to hide the fire down to earth; one said. After death, fire will burn off the sins of life, as soon as possible to life, and so on.

Festivals

Qiang calendar year is the most important one of the Qiang festival, the first day of October of the lunar calendar every year are held celebrations, generally three to five days, some villages over to the first ten days of October. On the first day of October, all the Qiang villages in the county have to return the wish to honor the god, "Shibi" in August on the avoidance of blather (avoid eating onions, garlic) for the preparation of sacrifices, sacrifices to sheep, pigs, chickens as the main, and sued the gods to lead the way. The whole village people should be in this day to the mountain god of sacrifice, pray for the next year, the five grains FengDeng, prosperous people, six animals full circle. The whole village people also in the "Shibi" under the leadership of the owners of the village plate of respect. After the sacrifice, *** drink smack wine, eat meat, jumping pot. During the festival, the qiang people also welcome each other, send gifts to relatives.

Qiang multi-god faith

Ancient Qiang people's low productivity, poor scientific and technological knowledge, unable to understand the phenomena of nature and produce "multi-god faith", that "everything has a spirit", including living and inanimate plants and animals, mountains, stones, water, soil, sun and sun. The belief that "everything has a spirit", including living and inanimate plants and animals, mountains, stones, water, soil, sun, moon, stars, stars, wind, thunder, rain, electricity and other natural phenomena, are "spirit", no "spirit" things can not come to this world. Qiang people migrated to the upper reaches of the Minjiang River in the high mountains and deep valleys, often encountered climatic variations: drought, floods, hail, floods, wind; geological variations: collapse, collapse, collapsing, sinking cracks; other hazards: diseases, epidemics, plagues, pests; coupled with beasts and birds of prey hazards, that the "gods" can manage and control these disasters, people only "honor the gods! It is believed that "God" can manage and control these disasters, and people can only "honor God" in order to eliminate disasters. Although the religion of the Qiang District by the Buddha, Taoism, Lamaism, but still retains the original "totem" of the kernel, stayed in the stage of worship of multiple gods, and people closely related to the things are respected as gods. All kinds of gods are in charge of their respective duties, due to the influence of the regional environment, the name of the gods around the world, worship is different. Unanimously, they all honor the god of the sky, "Mubita", and all the gods are represented by the "White Stone God".

The gods worshipped by the Qiang people include: the gods of nature (1): the gods of heaven, the sun, the moon, the stars (commonly known as the "stars"), the gods of the mountains (each mountain has a god's name), the gods of the water (there are wells, streams and rivers), the gods of fire (lightning, phosphorus), the dragon god (rain, snow), the god of thunder, the god of the field, the god of the land (the god of the family, the green seedling, the long life), the god of roads, the god of stone (the white stone god). The god of the road, the god of stone (white stone, steep rock) and so on. ② animal and plant gods: six animal gods (horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs), tree gods, grain gods and so on. ③Tribal and regional gods: the ancestor god of the land industry and the god of the village. ④Family gods, ancestor gods, male and female ancestor gods, male and female protector gods, house gods, circle gods, door gods, stove gods, corner gods, warehouse gods, fire pit gods, and daughter-in-law gods. ⑤Gods of labor and craftsmanship: mason god, blacksmith god, carpenter god, god of ingenuity (wisdom god), etc. There are also gods of Guanyin, Rulai, and Laozi. There are also Goddess of Mercy, Rulai, Laojun, Jade Emperor, Guansheng, Chuanzhu, Earth Mother, Niangniang, Pingzheng Wang, Medium Immortal, Lohan, etc. The Qiang people themselves honor the gods of labor and craftsmanship. The Qiang people themselves venerate the gods from and myths and legends, is engaged in a variety of production and has made significant contributions to the people and daily life is closely related to the belief that these gods can dominate the rise and fall of the nation, the safety of people and animals, and the harvest of the grains.

The Qiang Sacrificial Mountain Festival

The "Sacrificial Mountain Festival" is also known as the "Mountain King Festival", "Mountain God Festival", "Mountain Turning Festival", "Tower Festival", and "Mountain Sacrifice Festival". It is a grand ceremony to pray to the gods of heaven, earth and earth, and to bless the Qiang people for the prosperity of six animals, the abundance of grains, the lushness of forests, the peace of the place, and the success of all things. Mian amphibious, Longxi, Yanmen and other places due to the different agricultural seasons, the date of sacrifice with, but more in the spring and fall. Longxi, Mianwibi in the lunar calendar held in early August, Yanmen held in April. Most of the festival will be a village and a cottage as a unit, held before, in the past, generally by the head of the club to take turns as a preparatory, will be the first time to ask a few competent assistants to help.