Transportation
Long Horn Miaozhai is located in the southwestern part of Long Horn Miaozhai, more than 500 meters above sea level, originally thought that Long Horn Miaozhai has a car from Long Horn Miaozhai High-speed Railway Station, but now there is no car, you can only go from Long Horn Miaozhai by the car from Long Horn Miaozhai County or Zhaoxing Dong Village. Zhaoxing Dong Village has a bus to Long Horn Miao Village every day, which departs from Zhaoxing Dong Village at 9:30 am and returns from Long Horn Miao Village at 1:30 pm.
Welcome Ceremony
Long Horn Miao is the last shooter tribe in the world, which is regarded as a living fossil and museum of Miao culture because of its unique houses, headdresses, and the strange customs such as sickle shaving and ancient hair styles which are still little-known.
At 11 a.m., the Miao village held a ceremony to welcome guests. Long Horn Miao men in front of the village gate played the reed-sheng, and the song was melodious and warm. After the song, three firecrackers sounded, gun men on both sides of a burst of gunfire, the gun smoke will ripple away.
When you enter the gate of the village, the Long Horn Miao standing on the right side of the village will serve you some Long Horn wine.
Ancient Trees
The Zhaitou Forest is a hundred-year-old tree next to Long Horn Miao village, also known as the Zhaizhai tree. Long Horn Miao people believe that these trees are related to the dragon vein of the village and are the lifeblood of the whole village, so no one can cut them down at will, or else they will destroy the "dragon vein" and bring disaster to the whole village. The head of the village is mostly maple, camphor, cypress, lotus, silver fir, red bean trees and other species. The age of the trees are more than a hundred years, and some of them are hundreds or even thousands of years old.
The tree of life is a symbol of Long Horn Miao people's life. "Life is also a tree and death is also a tree." Long Horn Miao people worship the tree god. They offer sacrifices to ancient trees on New Year's holidays and practice tree burials. After the birth of a Long Horn Miao, his parents plant a tree for him to symbolize the beginning of his life. When he dies, people in the village will cut down the tree that accompanied him when he was growing up, make it into a coffin, wrap the body around it, bury it in the soil deep in the dense forest, and then plant a small tree on top of it. There is no grave, no tombstone, only an evergreen tree, symbolizing the continuation of life. In Long Horn Miao, a tree is a soul, and the older the tree, the more divine it is. Long Horn Miao people are in awe of these spirits, and these spirits also shelter Long Horn Miao.
The people of Long Horn Miao worship and trust the trees far more than the human beings themselves. The lives of young children are fragile, so they entrust their children to the tree gods and pray for their healthy growth. Most of them choose the Lotus tree as their children's life-preserving tree. This tree is green all year round and symbolizes lush vitality. During festivals or when the child is not feeling well, the father will take the child to the Lotus Tree to worship and pray to the tree god for blessings until the child comes of age.
Hong Horn Miao compatriots have always followed the ancient simple funeral customs, from death to burial generally no more than 24 hours, the funeral arrangements are extremely frugal, friends and relatives to send more glutinous rice, buried on the mountain, eat a meal is completed.
When someone dies in Long Horn Miao Village, relatives and friends now cut cedar wood to make a simple coffin, first put the coffin in the dug grave, the deceased with the Miao family weaving Tibetan green cloth wrapped, a simple ceremony, from the deceased's own family Wo drying racks to take down the third Wo cooler rod, the body of the deceased lifted to the mountain for burial. The grave is piled up into a small mound, and no monument is erected in front of the mound; only a tree is planted on the mound to herald the reincarnation of life in another way. In the Long Horn Miao people's concept, everything comes from nature and returns to nature.
Xiangzhang Memorial Pavilion
Entering the Long Horn Miao Village is like walking into a forest, with ancient trees and green bamboos on both sides of the road.
The Long Horn Miao Village consists of five villages. The wooden buildings are built on the mountain, lined up one after another. They are hidden in the green mountains and bamboos, all in one.
On the way into the village, there is the Xiangzhang Memorial Pavilion. Long Horn Miao's unique tree-cutting "action" was the construction of Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall in Beijing in 1976, when people of all ethnic groups in the country enthusiastically pitched in to contribute materials. The Long Horn Miao people, with infinite respect for the Chairman, resolutely decided to dedicate to Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall a thousand-year-old camphor tree with a diameter of 1.2 meters, which was regarded as a god in the forest by the whole village on a small hill in front of the village. Camphor tree out of the village, the whole village of young and old run to both sides of the highway to see off, some old people even tears, until the dust has been clean. To commemorate, at the site of the tree built an octagonal memorial pavilion "dedicated to Chairman Mao Memorial Hall camphor memorial pavilion."
The center of the pavilion is placed in the root of this balsam camphor tree, Long Horn Miao people say that it can be touched on the blessing, so tourists scramble to touch.
A glimpse of Miao Village
On both sides of the slate road are vegetable beds surrounded by fence walls, and the wooden buildings with gray tile roofs are in front of you.
The yellow flowers on the fence are like the train of the wooden building.
Next to the fence, Long Horn Miao women are embroidering.
Stepping on the stone road, along the fence wall, we came to Long Horn Miao Eco Square. This is a relatively flat and wide place in the village, and there is a big stone with "Long Horn Miao" in the center of the square next to an ancient tree, surrounded by several inns.
The wooden houses of the cottage are built on the mountain, and the stone road stretches to the depth of the cottage, which is so simple and natural.
An old woman of 80 years old is sitting in front of the door, looking at the passing tourists.
The house of the Roll family is engraved on the wall with a family rule: "Think of righteousness when you see profit, think of the source when you see water, think of loyalty when you see difficulty, and think of virtue when you see virtue". The Roller family is a big family in the walled city, the rules of the clan's education is very important.
After passing by the family of the Rolling family name, I saw the Harvest Cooling Rack. This is a wooden frame for Long Horn Miao people to dry grain, without rivets, based on geometric principles to make the wooden poles connected, standing steadily on the ground. The third stick is also the stick used to carry the dead in tree burials.
Wojang, which is next to Wojangjae, is also a wooden house built on a slope with a dry bar. Grain is stored in the upper house.
Lusheng Hall
The Lusheng Hall is a wide flat area in the village with a wooden floor and surrounded by trees. It is a place for gathering and performing songs and dances.
Here, the men and girls of Long Horn Miao show visitors the cultural customs of Long Horn Miao in the form of songs and dances.
Long Horn Miao Costume
The Long Horn Miao girls, dressed in uniform Miao costumes, bury their heads in embroidery in their spare time before the performance. Their hair is in a high bun with silver headdresses. They wear Tibetan green cloth clothes with embroidery on the collar, cuffs and lapels, and pleated skirts with embroidered leggings of the same color, making the girls look beautiful.
Long Horn Miao men wear left-over-right round copper buttons Tibetan blue high-waisted clothes, Tibetan blue straight pants, some of them wear headgear, shoulder embroidered or batik flower hunting bag, waist wrapped in colorful belts. The head is shaved all around and the top of the head is pulled up in a bun. They carry waist swords and muskets on their shoulders, dressed as ancient warriors. The fabric of the clothes is woven and dyed by Long Horn Miao women themselves, and the new clothes are a bit hard to touch, but more durable and soft after a long time of wearing.
Lusheng Dance
The song and dance performance began, Long Horn Miao men played the lusheng on the stage, with high and melodious tones, and masculine and atmospheric dance steps. Then the girls come on stage and surround the men.
The Long Horn Miao man pictured below is the best dancer, dancing barefoot with his hair tied up in a bundle. He danced while blowing, the colorful ribbons in his hair and waistline bouncing as he danced, every pore of his body erupting with primitive and wild power, yet so well coordinated.
Wedding
The simple wedding customs of Long Horn Miao are then shown.
The men of Long Horn Miao carry their brides on two bamboo poles, with the bride sitting on the lower pole and grasping her hands on the upper pole. This kind of sedan chair is really simple, but so interesting, carrying the bride to a new happy life.
Then the male boys from the female side here to grab the bride, repeated three times.
The bride is finally snatched.
Then, from the tourists to choose a dress as the groom, an older Long Horn sand man a ghost teacher for them to preside over the wedding.
The bride and groom drink a cup of wine.
The bride and groom distribute sticky rice for the guests.
After the marriage, the bride does not settle in her husband's house for three years, and only goes to her husband's house on festivals.
Sickle Shaving
Men in Long Horn Miao have to hold a bar mitzvah at the age of 15 (or 17, 19, 21), at which time they have to shave their heads.
The tool used to shave the head is a sickle. When shaving the head, the head is first washed and then the hair around it is shaved, leaving only the hair in the center part of the head pulled into a bun, which they call the "household stick," which they consider to be the place where they communicate with the sky. Some also wear a white turban on their heads. It is said that the ancestors of the Hmong Chiyu is also this kind of hair, so Long Horn Miao people think they are the direct descendants of the Hmong.
The man who shaved the head was skillful and soon shaved it.
Musket Culture
The final Lusheng dance demonstrates their musket culture.
Long Horn Miao ancestors moved here from the East, and along the way, they were disturbed and attacked by bandits, and had to fight with fierce beasts in the jungle, which made the living environment harsh. In order to prevent foreign invasions and to meet the needs of life, hunting with muskets became the mainstay of every Long Horn Miao people. In order to prevent foreign invasions and to meet the needs of life, the Long Horn Miao men had to master the skills of survival, and all of them were equipped with muskets.
The dance reproduces the scene of their use of muskets, showing the bravery and toughness of Long Horn Miao men.
The Long Horn Miao men raise their guns and fire them, and the smoke fills the sky above the Lusheng Hall.
Walking along the stone road towards the gate of the village, looking back at this tribe far away from modern civilization again, as if in a dream.
In the depth of such a dense forest, Long Horn Miao people work at sunrise and rest at sunset. They have their own beliefs, follow the law of life, and are in harmony with nature. Only wish this pure land can give some enlightenment to the noisy world, not for the outside world's curiosity, Long Horn Miao people to maintain the determination, do not be interfered with, to maintain their own true and beautiful.