The Yi people are the sixth largest ethnic minority in China. They mainly live in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces in southwest China. The total population is about 9 million. There are 8.714393 people registered in China (2010). Countries such as Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar also have a population of nearly one million. Below I have compiled the knowledge related to the totems of the Yi people in Guizhou for everyone. I hope it will be useful to everyone.
Totems of the Yi people in Guizhou
Lacquerware of the Yi people
Lacquerware of the Yi people has long been famous for its diverse and unique shapes and eye-catching patterns. The oblate wine pot is a masterpiece of Yi lacquerware. In the middle of the pattern is a radiant sun, which represents the four directions of space and the sun pattern. The concentric circle composition symbolizes the unbreakable national unity. The Yi people worship fire, and their traditional festival is the Torch Festival. The pattern composed of Yi lacquerware and flame decoration symbolizes auspiciousness, solemnity and a happy life.
The Yi people are distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Yi people have many self-proclaimed names, which vary from place to place, including Nuosu, Kamisa, Luoluo, Sanisani, Axi, etc. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, "Yi" was used as the unified ethnic name.
History of the Yi Nationality
As for the origin of the Yi people, there are still different opinions and there is no conclusion yet. So far, the origin of the Yi people is mainly based on the indigenous theory and the Di and Qiang theory. The indigenous theory is divided into two types: the southwest indigenous theory and the Yunnan indigenous theory. The Southwest Aboriginal theory holds that the Yi people have lived in the southwest of the motherland since ancient times and have gone through different stages of human development to become the current Yi people. The basis for this claim, in addition to Chinese literature, is mostly ancient Yi literature and myths and legends. Yunnan indigenous theory believes that Yunnan is the origin of the Yi people.
The Qiang Di theory is a relatively common view. It believes that the ancient Di Qiang people who lived in the Qinghai region of northwest my country six or seven thousand years ago began to develop in all directions, and one of them traveled to the southwest of the motherland. The early branches of the ancient Qiang people who went south merged with the local indigenous peoples, and later formed the Qiongfan in the Xichang area and the Dianfan in the Yunnan area, which are the ancestors of the Yi people.
In addition, there is also the "Western Alien Race Theory". In the late Qing Dynasty, Westerners came to the Yi area with an anthropological perspective. The results of the investigation were: "The physical appearance of the Yi people is that they have a tall body and a high nose." With their dark eyes and bronze complexion, it is believed that the Yi people’s ancestry should have the ancestry characteristics of Western Aryans or Caucasians. Especially at that time, Xiaoliangshan was still in a hierarchical slave society. The hierarchical division of social members was similar to the Indian caste system (brought into India by the Aryan invasion). Based on this, it is believed that the Yi people originate from the West or at least have Western Aryan ancestry.
Davis mentioned the Yi people in his 1911 book "Yunnan? A Link Connecting Continuous India and the Yangtze River": ...We crossed mountains 4,000 feet high to reach Zuo In Quluoluo Village, the Luoluo people in the village can be said to be the best type I have ever seen in the south. They are very tall, with straight noses and delicate faces. Lu Dazhen mentioned in his articles "Ethnographic Research on the Luo People" and "Jianchang Luo" that the Yi people are an excellent race that was defeated in the war. The Russian Peter Gu also mentioned in the book "The Forgotten Kingdom": "They are tall...their skin color is not black at all, but like a mulatto, showing a creamy chocolate color, and their big eyes are bright." They are always bright and bright, and their appearance and hooked nose are almost like Romans. Their hair is dark, slightly curly and quite soft.
?In modern Luoluo, there are physical differences between the black and white groups. Hei Luoluo is tall, some say he is taller than Europeans. They have aquiline noses, and the raised nasal ridge is very different from the Mongolian type. ? Therefore, the statement that the Yi people are "foreign aliens from the West" belongs to the theory that there is no smoke without fire.
The ancestors of the Yi people were already distributed in parts of the southwest 3,000 years ago, namely the so-called "Yue Songyi", "Yi", "Kunming", "Laojin", "Mimo", and "Yuesongyi" that often appear in history books. Sou? and other tribes.
During the long-term formation and development, the activities of the ancestors of the Yi people once covered the heartland of the three provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou and part of Guangxi. Their core area should be the vast area adjacent to the three provinces.
In the 830s, the scope of rule reached all of present-day eastern Yunnan, western Guizhou and Sichuan, basically controlling the main distribution areas of the Yi ancestors.
The Nanzhao Slavery Dynasty ruled the Yi ancestors’ areas for a long time and had a profound impact on the existence and development of local slavery. In the second year of Tang Tianfu's reign (902). During the more than 300 years between the two Song Dynasties, the ancestors of the Yi people in the three states of Rong (Yibin), Lu (Lu County), and Li (Hanyuan) were in the midst of the mutual struggle between the Song Dynasty and the Dali regime, and a relatively prosperous slave economy emerged. situation. In conjunction with this, the slave production relationship resulted in the situation where powerful tribes enslaved small tribes. In the third year of Mongol Khan's reign (1253), the Mongolian cavalry attacked Yunnan in three routes from Sichuan, passing through the Yi areas. This prompted the divided Yi areas to form a relatively loose anti-Mongolian alliance, and began to unify under the name of the Luoluo people.
In the 276th year of the Ming Dynasty, Shuixi (Dafang), which spanned the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, Wukai (Weining), Wumeng (Zhaotong), Mangbu (Zhenxiong), Dongchuan (Huichuan) Ze), Yongning (Xuyong), Mahu (Pingshan), Jianchang (Xichang) and other places, the Yi chieftains (Zimo) are connected together and support each other, maintaining basically the same slave system and low social productivity. Accordingly, each Yi ethnic area can basically be divided into three levels: chieftain and black bones, white bones and domestic slaves. On the basis of the above-mentioned hierarchical relationship, the chieftain system of the Yi people in Shuixi, Jianchang, Wumeng and other places in the Ming Dynasty was still the superstructure of slavery.
During the Kangxi and Yongzheng years, the Qing Dynasty implemented the "reform of native land and return to local rule" in the Yi area, which dealt a heavy blow to the influence of chieftains, Tumu, and slave owners. With the development of social productivity, most Yi areas were still in the late stage of slavery or feudal feudal society during the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Customs and habits of the Yi people
Left-foot dance? Legend
The left-foot dance of the Yi people has a history of more than 1,000 years, and the March Festival has a history of nearly 400 years. The earliest written record of left-foot dance can be found in the 41st year of Kangxi (1702).
It is said that a long time ago, there was an evil dragon in the world who made trouble and caused floods. Two Yi youths, Ali and Aluo, bravely stood up and went to subdue the evil dragon. Under the leadership of Ali and Aluo, the Yi people fought against the evil dragon. Seeing that the situation was not going well, the evil dragon quickly fled back to Longtan. People seized the opportunity and poured the red chestnut charcoal into the pond. After filling it, they carried stones and dug soil to fill the Longtan. Afraid that the tamping would not be able to hold down the evil dragon and turn over, he lit a bonfire on it and sang, danced and stamped his feet. After three days and three nights, the evil dragon finally died. In order to celebrate the victory, the Yi people made the Yueqin from the dragon's head, skin, bones and tendons. They gathered together to play the Yueqin and sang the left-foot tune "Aliluo" to commemorate the victory.
In places such as Zhela and Longgli where the Yi people live in Lvzhi Town, for hundreds of years, people have celebrated the 16th day of the first lunar month and the 27th, 28th and 29th day of the third lunar month. Sometimes there is a family getting married and giving birth to a daughter. When the sun sets, people from the Yi and other ethnic groups from far and near come uninvited. They play the dragon's head strings, and the men and women harmonize or sing the left foot tune in unison, holding hands and shoulder to shoulder. , forming a large circle with dozens or even hundreds of people dancing the left-foot dance happily. Accompanied by the tinkling strings and the high-pitched and crisp tunes, they sometimes stepped forward, sometimes stumbled, sometimes swung their legs to their feet, sometimes waved their hands and turned around. Their dance steps were neat and uniform, and their postures were light and healthy.
There are many types of left-foot dance, but they are basically bold and unrestrained. The first type is a hospitable tune, such as: "Come if you like it, come if you don't like it, come regardless of whether you like it or not;" the second type is a song of good life, such as: "We will meet in March, we will meet in March, it is fun" They play the strings and dance, sell pots and baskets, and the third category is singing about the harvest, such as when the moon comes out and the strings are tuned.
The moon is round and round, and the moon shows a smiling face. We all dance together and sing about the harvest year; the fourth category is singing about love, such as "Tempering" is the best in March, and you will not be tired after dancing for three days. If you don't come, you can't come. Don't let me wait in vain.
On March 27th, 28th and 29th, people in various Yi-inhabited areas in Lvzhi Town will organize large-scale left-foot dances. By that time, there were Yi men and women dressed in bright Yi costumes everywhere, and the music of the Yueqin could be heard everywhere. People regardless of nationality, whether they knew each other or not, held hands, danced, and caroused all night long.
"Girl's Room"
Marriage and love between Yi men and women: "Girl's Room" is a unique custom of the Yi people in Chuxiong. When a girl reaches the age of 16, her parents will build a small thatched house for her and let her spend the night alone there. Young men who are over 20 years old can climb up to the thatched house of their beloved girl at night to fall in love. They played together, exchanged tunes, and expressed their love for each other. This is true even if there are several young men and women at the same time, everyone is not restricted. Once love matures, both men and women can get married as long as they obtain the consent of their parents. Parents generally will not interfere with the choices of their children.
The wedding of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, Yunnan is quite unique. When getting married, the man must prepare a horse and carry gifts such as wine, cloth, meat, and noodles to welcome the bride. The girls in the bride's village can use all their skills to splash water on the guests who are welcoming the bride, and catch them in a desperate attempt to make fun of them. All bridegrooms must be men. When the bride arrives at the groom's door, she cannot enter until the sun goes down. Before entering the door, a person holds a wooden bowl containing mutton, meat and wine, and circles it around the bride's head to show that she will live a prosperous life after marriage. Then the bride was carried into the house by her cousins.
?Dancing dishes?
The singing and dancing of the Yi people to accompany their meals: "Dancing dishes", that is, dancing while serving food. It is a unique form of serving food and the highest etiquette for guests of the Yi people in Wuliang Mountain and Ailao Mountain in Yunnan. It is a long-standing traditional food culture that perfectly combines dance, music and acrobatics.
When banquets are held, square tables are usually placed along two edges, with guests sitting in three directions, leaving a channel for "dance dancing" in the middle. Three big gongs kicked off the "dance dance": gongs, reeds, three-stringed instruments, muffled flutes, leaves and other folk music played in unison; amidst the shouts of girls and boys, only Yi people holding trays were seen. The man's hands were clasped together, and his steps were high and low, quick and slow. Another man, holding a vegetable plate (***24 bowls) on his head and both arms, followed closely behind him. They performed a simple and honest folk music concerto together, with funny faces on their faces, and dance steps that were easy, graceful, smooth and coherent back and forth, one after another. The two partners, who were holding towels, were full of weird shapes, escorting him by moving forward, backward, left, and right like colorful butterflies playing with flowers.
A pair of food carriers had to serve four tables. Their partner arranged 32 bowls of food in a Bagua array, with each bowl of food looking like a chess piece. It has its own position and is placed on the table one by one according to the ancient rules without any chaos.
The patrilineal small family system is prevalent among the Yi people in various places, and young children often live with their parents. Women have lower status. The inheritance is divided equally among the disciples, and the property is generally owned by close relatives. In the history of the Yi people, it was popular to name father and son together, and this custom continued among the Yi people in Liangshan until the founding of the People's Republic of China. Monogamy is the basic marriage system of the Yi people. A higher bride price is required to marry a daughter-in-law. Cross-cousin marriage is more popular, and house transfer is practiced after the husband's death. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, some Yi areas in Yunnan still maintained the public housing system, and the Yi people in Liangshan maintained strict hierarchical endogamy. Historically, the Yi people mostly practiced cremation. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, residents in Liangshan and Yunnan along the Jinsha River still practiced this burial custom. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, other areas have gradually changed to upper burial.
Customs of hospitality
Folks have the custom of "beating sheep" and "beating cows" to welcome and entertain guests. Whenever a guest arrives, he must kill the guest first, and treat him as a cow, sheep, pig, chicken, etc. according to the guest's identity and degree of intimacy. Before killing an animal, the live animal should be brought to the guests, and the guests should look at it before slaughtering it to show respect for the guests. Wine is a greeting gift to guests. In Liangshan, whenever a guest enters the house, the host must first toast the guest with wine and then prepare various dishes.
Meals for entertaining guests are considered to be rich in pig fat. During the meal, the housewife should always pay attention to the rice in the bowls of the guests and add more at any time before the guests finish it to show her sincerity in hospitality. When eating, the elders sit at the top, and the younger generations sit around the sides and below in turn, adding rice, picking vegetables, and making soup for the elders.
Roasted tea dating custom
Roasted tea is a daily necessity for ethnic minorities in my country’s mountain valleys. Due to the cold and dry climate and lack of vegetables, they often drink strong hot tea to supplement nutrients. The shortcomings of the so-called "must drink tea three times a day". There are various types of roasted tea, including salty, sweet, bitter and spicy, and various flavors of life. It is not only a source of energy for hard work, but also a spiritual thing for entertaining guests during festivals.
It is said that in the local area, if you cannot learn first-hand tea roasting skills and cannot roast good tea at the girl’s house, your father-in-law will think that you are incompetent and will not marry the girl to you. Therefore, the local boy You have to learn roasted tea at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and you have your own unique skills for roasting tea.
There is also a story among the Yi people that Bai Ling brought tea seeds from the 100-foot-high cliff of Wuliang Mountain to cure all kinds of diseases. In order to commemorate the spiritual bird, when guests drink tea, boys and girls will always imitate the spiritual bird and dance. And every process of making fragrant tea in rice jars is also related to Bailing.
Wedding customs
After young men and women get engaged, they must prepare for the wedding banquet. Wedding banquets mostly use pigs and chickens, but mutton is generally not used (mutton is used for funerals). The Yi people in Shiping, southern Yunnan, have the custom of inviting their male and female partners to have dinner and drinks before getting married; the Yi people in western Yunnan, when they marry a girl, they will build a tent with tree branches in the courtyard or dam for guests to drink, smoke, eat, and sit around. , the folk call this kind of temporary shed made of branches "green shed".
Marriage and love of the Yi people are strange and interesting. The most interesting thing is that only girls who have had a "skirt-changing ceremony" can make love with their sweethearts in the "playground", and the matchmaker talks about marriage and drinks and betrothal. , let the bride starve, relatives and friends cry all night, pour water on the bride-to-be, grab the bride, fight in the bridal chamber and other traditional wedding customs.
Girls' skirt-changing ceremony
When Yi girls reach adulthood (usually around 15 years old), a grand "skirt-changing ceremony" is held according to custom. During the dress-changing ceremony, the girl asks her sisters to change her original single braid into a double braid and tie it on the top of her head. It is also necessary to tear off the white pendants or old ear-piercing threads originally worn on the ears and replace them with red agate-like coral beads or silver sparkling earrings to show good luck. Finally, the girl took off her original red and white children's skirt and put on a lace embroidered top and a pleated floor-length skirt in black, blue, yellow, white and other colors. After putting on a new dress, the girl can go to the playground to dance, sing, participate in social activities, and start looking for her sweetheart.
Carrying the Bride
According to Yi family customs, when the bride comes out of the palace, her feet must not touch the ground, otherwise there will be a risk of infertility, so the young man who accepts the bride must carry the bride. , and helped her mount her horse. There are also various rules on the way back from the wedding: if the mountain is high and the road is narrow and it is impossible to ride a horse, the young men who pick up the bride must take turns carrying the bride on their back; when crossing a river, wading, it is even more necessary for someone to carry the bride across the river, and the bride's embroidered shoes must not get wet.
Splashing water to receive relatives
The Yi people believe that clear water can drive away evil spirits, send away demons, and bring happiness. Therefore, the Yi people must splash water when they get married. In order to withstand this test, when welcoming the bride, the groom's family must select an unmarried man to pick up the bride. To be able to complete the arduous task of "stealing" the bride, they often review the candidates repeatedly and select the best ones, and some even travel long distances to select talented people.
Welcoming brides of the Yi people is done through "grabbing". On the first night of "robbing the bride", the girls started a fierce water fight with the young man. The girls violently attacked the young men by splashing, showering, pouring, and shooting, making it difficult for the young men who came to "rob the bride" to resist. So, the smart young man found a place where water was stored before dark, and quietly poured out part of it to reduce the attack of "flood".
After a night of splashing, when morning comes, the "bride snatching" begins.
At this time, the girls are hugging the bride, and the boys are going to "fight for it". The girls are strictly defensive, and the boys must be smart and changeable. They must take advantage of the loopholes that appear in an instant, snatch the bride away, and run straight out of the mountain road for a mile or two. Walk instead. It can be seen that it is not easy to snatch the bride to her husband's family! However, the Yi people believe that this snatching during the wedding can drive away evil spirits and ensure that their future lives will not be disturbed.
Fighting in the bridal chamber
According to the custom of the Yi people, if the bride does not resist and fight on the wedding night, she will be laughed at: "This is a woman who will not resist!" It is said that they Children born in the future will not be recognized by the ancestors, and they will not be able to enter the underworld after death! Therefore, after the banquet has dispersed, the newlyweds in the bridal chamber still have a rough and tumble fight. They threw and beat each other, tore their clothes and scratched their faces, and the banging sound coming from the bridal chamber was heard by all the neighbors.
The next morning, the groom took the bride to recognize her parents. In the afternoon, the groom made an appointment with a friend and followed the bride back to her parents' home to meet her parents-in-law. If the accompanying young man is a naughty ghost, when they arrive at the bride's house, the young man will rush in first and call daddy and mommy in a sweet voice, and then the groom will also call, making the bride's parents confused about which one is the one. His own son-in-law.