Why do Bo people hang coffins?

Funeral is one of the genes of the whole social culture. In the cultural history of China, there are various funeral ways and customs. But in fact, it always exists as a symbolic system, which not only symbolizes the other side of people's minds-the ghost world, but also symbolizes the real world on the other side of life.

It reflects the thoughts and views of all sentient beings on the known and unknown world. It is formed by the common understanding of people in different historical periods and bears the brand of the times.

Hanging coffin burial is a strange form of burial in ancient times, which is called "the remains of ancient times and the miracle of the world" by theoretical scholars. Why are Bo people a minority? How to date? Why did they hang the coffin and put the heavy coffin on the high cliff in what way? The hanging coffins of the Gelao nationality are still shrouded in a mysterious veil.

Yongshan county is one of the areas where hanging coffins are widely distributed in southwest China. In 2005, my colleagues and I went to Fotan, Huanghua and other townships (towns) successively, looking for the lost Bo civilization along rivers and canyons with a pilgrim mood. According to on-the-spot research, the hanging coffins of the Gelao people in Yongshan have been found, including the hanging coffins of water and rock in Fotan Shunhe Second Society, the hanging coffins in Huangjiagou and the hanging coffins in Huanglongtan.

Huanghua Bo people's hanging coffins are located near Dahegou, Qiaowan, about 2.3 kilometers southeast of Huanghua central market town, about 250 meters southwest of the "Han Hui" stone carving, with an altitude of 560-640 meters. There are 6 wooden stakes and 16 holes in the site. According to observation and analysis, there were at least 10 coffins here. Due to age and wind and rain erosion, the coffin has been ruined, leaving only holes and stakes nailed to the cliff. The site covers an area of about 250 square meters, which is more than 0/0 meters away from the surface/kloc-0 and tens of meters high.

As for the owner of Bo people, it is generally believed that they lived in southern Sichuan and northeastern Yunnan before the Spring and Autumn Period. However, according to historical records, Liao Bai and Gelao people who lived in southern Sichuan and northeastern Yunnan nearly 1000 years ago also had the custom of hanging coffins. Jing Li's Dian Lue in the Yuan Dynasty and Zhou Rucheng's Yan Ling Lue in the Ming Dynasty both recorded: "When you die, you will have a coffin, but you will not be buried. If you put it in a cave, the highest will reach thousands of feet, or face the river without cover. " From this point of view, the hanging coffin may be the work of Liao Bai and Ji Lao ren. Yongshan locals call the hanging coffin "Bai Zi's grave". It seems that the hanging coffin is indeed related to Liao Bai, but there is no historical research.

There is also a legend about the origin of hanging coffin burial: in ancient times, Wang Panhu, the ancestor of She nationality, married the third princess of Gao Xindi and gave birth to three men and one woman. The whole family moved to Phoenix Mountain to hunt and farm. Because King Pan Hu was born in the stars, he could neither live nor die, so after his death, his children and grandchildren put the coffin in the cave on the cliffs of Phoenix Mountain with wheels and ropes.

Its descendants inherited it and formed the hanging coffin burial custom of the ancient She nationality. The word "she" of the She nationality, written as "Lu" in ancient times, also contains the meaning of this story: in Phoenix Mountain, after the death of a great man, his coffin was hung by wheels in a cliff cave and buried.

Burial method

The coffin cover plate of Buddhist beach hanging coffin burial is circular arc cover plate. According to research, the circular-arc coffin cover plate, which prevailed in southern China, began in the Yuan Dynasty. Hanging coffin burial began in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago and finally ended in the late Ming Dynasty. It can be inferred that the basic dating of Yongshan hanging coffin burial should be from Yuan Dynasty to the end of Ming Dynasty.

At present, there are four main theories about how to put the hanging coffin on the cliff: one is rope hanging method; The second is the combined stacking method; The third is the ladder method; The fourth is the method of building mountains with soil.

There is a row of pile holes from lower left to upper right on the rock above the hanging coffin of the Yellow Man. The hanging burial method of hanging coffins of the Yellow People is to lay piles and remove the plank road after putting the coffins away. However, the geographical location of the hanging coffins of Budan Shunjiang Second Society is very obvious, that is, it is difficult to put hundreds of coffins into the crevices of the cliff by rope method, pile extension method and ladder method. Jing Li's Annals of Yunnan in Yuan Dynasty said: After hanging coffins, the higher the better, and the one who falls first is lucky. This should be the truth of hanging coffins.