Yi Introduction
Yi, from the Han historical records in the "Southwest barbarians" (Southwest ethnic minorities collectively). According to the "Origin and Flow of the Yi People" and "Southwest Yi Zhi", the Yi people call themselves "Ni", and the ancient Chinese word "Ni" is pronounced as "Yi", which is why the Chinese records are mostly referred to as "Yi". In 1956, during the period of eliminating ethnic discrimination in the old society, the Yi sent representatives to Beijing to meet with Chairman Mao, who gave suggestions after understanding the situation and listening to the opinions, and because the name "Yi" was derogatory (barbarian), it was changed to "Yi". "Yi" was changed to "彝", meaning "rice" and "silk" under the house (____), food and clothing, symbolizing The name "Yi" was changed from "Yi" to "Yi" to symbolize prosperity and development.
The Yi are the sixth largest ethnic minority in China, living mainly in the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan in southwest China, with a total population of more than 9 million, of which 8,714,393 are registered in China's household register (2010), and nearly one million more in Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.
There are many branches of the Yi, including Nuosu, Nesu, Nasu, Naisu, Niezu, Luowu, Asipu, A fine, Sani, Nipu, and other self-proclaimed names. Among the above self-proclaimed names, Nosu, Nesu, Nesu, and Niezu have exactly the same original meaning in the Yi language, but are written differently in Chinese characters due to dialectal differences. Nuosu is the largest group among the Yi (the abbreviation of its self-proclaimed name is also commonly used as "ni" and "nuo"), which is mainly distributed in the Liangshan area of Sichuan Province. There is no direct communication between Yi dialects, but there is about 30%-50% of the same or similar vocabulary, the same or similar grammatical structure, the presence of the religious ceremony master "Bimo", and the ****same traditional festival "Torch Festival".
Chinese Name: Yi Ethnicity
Foreign Name: YiEthnicity
Population: about 8.71 million (2010)
Population: about 8.71 million (2010)
Residence: Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Vietnam, etc.
Language: Yi (Yi branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language family)
Script: Yi (A.I.S.
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Principal Areas: Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Vietnam, etc. Regions: Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, etc.
Major cities: Kunming, Yuxi, Xichang, Chuxiong, Qujing
Train stations: Xichang, Chuxiong, Kunming
Calendar: Yi October Solar Calendar
Legend of the Left-Foot Dance
There are 1,000 years of Yi left-foot dances. The Yi left-footed dance has a history of more than 1,000 years, and the March meeting has a history of nearly 400 years. As early as in the forty-first year of the Kangxi period (1702), there was the earliest written record of the left-footed dance.
Legend has it that a long, long time ago, there was an evil dragon in the world that caused floods and harm. Two Yi youths, Ali and A Luo, bravely stepped forward to subdue the dragon. The Yi people, led by Ali and A Luo, fought against the dragon, which saw the situation and fled back to the dragon pool. People seize the opportunity to burn red chestnut charcoal in advance to the pool, pour full and lift stones, digging soil, fill the dragon pool. Fear of ram pressure is not tight dragon turn over, on top of the bonfire, singing, dancing and stomping, three days and three nights, the dragon finally died. In order to celebrate the victory, Yi family members with the dragon's head, skin, bones, tendons made of moon piano, get together to jump feet and play the piano, mouth singing left foot tune "Ali Luo" in honor of.
In the town of Green Juice, the Yi settlement of the pull, Long Geli and other places, for hundreds of years to the first month of the lunar calendar on the sixteenth and twenty-seventh of March, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth three days or people marrying their wives and daughters, when the sun goes down, near and far the Yi and other nationalities of the masses are not invited to play the dragon's head strings, men and women, and men and women and the voice of the voice or sing the tune of the left-footed, hand in hand, side-by-side, surrounded by dozens of people and even hundreds of people! hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, in a big circle of dozens or even hundreds of people, dancing the left-footed dance. Accompanied by the clanging strings, and with the high-pitched and clear song, they are sometimes foot flash waist, sometimes folded step down feet, sometimes flinging legs to feet, sometimes swinging hands turn, dance step neat and unified, dance posture light and healthy.
There are many kinds of tunes in the left-footed dance, but basically they are all of the bold type. The first type is hospitable tune, such as: "like to come, do not like to come, no matter you like not like to come"; the second type is to sing a good life, such as "March will March will, good is fun, and play the string and jumping feet, and sell tank cans and sell the basket, Ali Luo Ali Luo Ali Ali Luo "The third category is to sing about a good harvest, such as "The moon is out, the strings are tuned. The moon is full and round, the moon shows its smiling face, we all dance together and sing about the harvest year"; the fourth category is to sing about love, such as "The most important thing is to pass on love in March, jumping feet for three days is not tiring. If you don't come, you can't say no, so don't let your sister wait for you".
Three days in March 27, 28, 29, green juice town of each Yi settlement area of the masses are to organize a large-scale left foot dance. At that time, everywhere is dressed in brightly colored Yi clothing Yi men and women, everywhere resounding sound of the moon zither tone sound, everyone regardless of ethnicity, regardless of whether they know each other, pulling up the hand, dance, all night party.
"Girls Room"
Marriage of Yi men and women: "Girls Room" is a unique custom of the Chuxiong Yi. The girl is 16 years old, her parents will build another small grass building for her, let it alone in which to spend the night, and the 20-year-old young men, can climb up the grass building of the beloved girl at night to talk about love. They are together to blow scorn, to the tune, tell each other love feelings. Even if there are several pairs of young men and women at the same time, everyone is not bound. Once love is ripe, men and women can get married as long as they have the consent of their parents, who generally do not interfere with their children's choices.
The wedding of the Yi people in the small Liangshan Mountains of Yunnan Province is quite chic. At the time of the wedding, the man should prepare a horse and carry gifts such as wine, cloth, meat and raised noodles to welcome the bride. Female village girls, you can make all the skills to meet the guests splash water, caught desperately play music. Send the bride to all men, the bride to the door of the male party to the sun goes down before entering the door. Before entering the door, by a person holding a wooden bowl containing mutton, raised handle and wine, in the bride's head around a circle, to show that life after marriage is rich. Then the bride is carried into the house by her cousins.
"Jumping Vegetables"
The Yi's song and dance accompanied the meal: "Jumping Vegetables", i.e., dancing to serve the food. It is a unique form of serving food and the highest etiquette of banquets for the Yi folk in the Wuliangshan and Mianlong Mountains of Yunnan, which is a traditional food culture with a long history of perfect combination of dance, music and acrobatics.
When banquets are held, square tables are usually set up along the two sides, and guests sit around the three sides, leaving a "jumping dish" channel in the middle. Three gongs opened the "jumping vegetables" prelude: gongs, reedsheng, three strings, muffled flute, leaves and other folk music played; in the girls and boys "wu wah li - thi thi thi" in the yelling, only to see the top of the In the yells of the girls and boys, a Yi man with a tray arched his hands and bowed, his footsteps high and low, fast and slow, followed by another man with a dish (***24 bowls) on top of his head and on each of his arms. They were accompanied by a simple and pure folk music concerto, their faces made a funny state strange look, dancing crookedly back and forth but easy, beautiful, smooth, coherent dance steps, one after the other on the stage. The two hand towel partner, the strange appearance, like colorful butterflies play flowers like before, after, left, right to escort them.
A pair of food hand to dish four tables, partner to 32 bowls of food set back into the palace gossip array, each bowl of food is like a "chess piece". Since the positioning, all according to the ancient rules of the table one by one, not at all chaotic.
The Yi people around the prevalence of patrilineal small family system, young children often live with their parents. The status of women is low. Inheritance is divided equally among the sons, and extinct estates are generally owned by close relatives. In the history of the Yi people, father and son have been practiced, and this custom has been continued among the Yi residents in Liangshan until the founding of the nation. Monogamy is the basic system of marriage among the Yi, and a high bride price is required to marry a daughter-in-law. Staggered marriages from the table are more popular, and the death of the husband is practiced in the transfer of the house. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, some of the Yi areas in Yunnan Province still maintained the public housing system, and the Liangshan Yi maintained a strict hierarchical endogamous marriage. Historically, the Yi people practiced cremation, and before the founding of the People's Republic of China, residents of Liangshan and Yunnan along the Jinsha River still practiced this burial custom. Other areas have gradually changed to upper burials since the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Customs of hospitality
The Yi people have always had the custom of "playing sheep" and "playing cows" to welcome guests. Any guest to, must kill the first guest, and according to the identity of the guest, the degree of affinity to cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, etc., respectively. Before killing the animal, the live animal to the guest before, please guests after the slaughter, to show respect for the guests. Wine is a welcome gift to the guests, in Liangshan as long as the guests into the house, the host must first wine to honor the guests, and then make a variety of dishes. Guests of the meal to pig fat fat thick large for decent, in the middle of the meal, the housewife to pay attention to the guests in the bowl of rice, not to be eaten by the guests to add at any time, in order to show sincerity to the guests. When eating, the elders sit on top, the next generation in order to sit around the sides and below, and for the elders to add rice, folder vegetables, soak soup.
Roasted tea dating customs
Roasted tea is China's high mountain canyon areas of ethnic minorities of the necessities of life, due to the cold and dry climate, the lack of vegetables, it is often to drink rich hot tea to supplement the lack of nutrients, the so-called "three times a day must be drinking tea". Roasted tea varieties, salty, sweet, bitter and spicy, a hundred flavors of life, not only is the source of energy for hard work, but also the spirit of festivals and hospitality.
It is said that in the local, if you can not learn a hand baked tea technology, to the girl's home baked tea, the old man will think you have no ability, and do not want to marry the girl to you, therefore, the local boys fifteen or sixteen years old to learn to bake the tea, have a set of their own baked tea tricks.
The Yi people also rumored that the hundred spirits from the Wuliman Mountain, a hundred feet high cliffs to tea seeds for people to cure the story, in honor of the spirit bird, guests drink tea, young boys and girls will always imitate the spirit bird dance, and paste the rice pots and pots of fragrant tea and the hundred spirits of each process.
Wedding customs
After the engagement of young men and women, it is necessary to prepare for the wedding banquet. Pork and chicken are mostly used for wedding feasts, and mutton is generally not used (lamb is used for funerals). Shiping Yi in southern Yunnan have invited men and women to gather before the marriage of partners to drink the habit of dinner; Yi in western Yunnan, where the marriage of the bride, are to be in the courtyard or dam, with branches of the shed for guests to drink, smoke, eat, sit down, the folk with this branch of the temporary hut called "green hut".
Yi marriage is strange and interesting, the most interesting is, held a "skirt ceremony" of the young girl, can be in the "playground" in the relationship with the sweethearts, and matchmakers and wine and betrothal, so that the bride is starving, friends and relatives all night crying, to welcome the bride, splashing water, grab back the bride, the bride, the bride and the bride's family. The traditional wedding customs include splashing water on the bride, snatching the bride from her back, and fighting in the cave.
Girls change their skirts
Yi girls enter adulthood (usually at the age of 15), in accordance with the custom to hold a grand "skirt ceremony". At the ceremony, the girl should let her sisters change her original single braid into a double braid, coiled on top of her head. Also wear the original two ears of the white pendant piece or wear ear old line pulled off, replaced with red agate-like coral beads or silver glittering earrings, for good luck. Finally, the girl took off the original red and white color skirt, replaced with embroidered lace blouse and black, blue, yellow, white and other colorful pleated floor-length skirt. After changing into the new dresses, the girls can go to the "playground" to dance and sing, participate in social activities, and start looking for their sweethearts.
Back bride
According to the Yi family rules, the bride out of the cabinet, feet shall not land on the soil, otherwise there will be heir to the risk of non-fan, must be married by the young man to back the bride, and help her on the horse. Married on the way back there are all kinds of rules: if the mountains and narrow roads can not ride a horse, the young man must take turns by the bride to carry the bride and walk; wading across the river, but also by the back of the river, the bride's embroidered shoes can not be stained with water.
Splashing water to receive the bride
The Yi people believe that water can drive away evil, send away demons, bring happiness. Therefore, the Yi must splash water when they get married, in order to withstand this test, in welcoming the bride, the male family to send unmarried lads to pick up the bride, both physically strong, but also smart and capable of both inviting splashing the pain of the cold, but also able to complete the "snatch" the bride's arduous task, often in the recommendation of the candidate to repeat the consideration of the merit of the selection of candidates, and some at all costs! The first time I saw the movie, it was a very good one.
The Yi welcome the bride through the "grab" way to complete. On the first night of the "marriage", the girls launched a fierce water war with the young man. Girls with splashing, drenching, dunking, shooting and other ways to ferociously attack the young man, so that the "bride" to the young man difficult to fight. So, the clever young man will find a place to store water before dark, quietly dumped part of it to alleviate the "flood" attack.
After a night of water splashing, when the morning came, "bride kidnapping" began. At this time, the girls embraced the bride, the boys went to "scramble", the girls strict defense, the young man must be nimble and versatile, multiply the loopholes that appear in a flash, snatch the bride and run, and run out of a mile or two of the mountain only to change to walk. Visible, the bride "snatch" to the in-laws is not easy! But the Yi people believe that the wedding of this splash and grab will drive away evil spirits and ensure that the future life is not disturbed.
Fighting in the bridal chamber
According to Yi custom, on the night of the bridal chamber, if the bride doesn't fight back, she will be ridiculed: "This is a woman who can't fight back. It is said that the children they give birth to later will not be recognized by their ancestors and will not be able to enter the "netherworld" after death! Therefore, when the guests leave the banquet, the couple in the bridal chamber, there is still a lot of fighting and wrestling. They were wrestling, tearing clothes and scratching faces, and the thumping sound coming out of the cave was heard by all the neighbors.
The next morning, the groom led the bride to recognize her parents. In the afternoon, the groom will ask a partner to follow the bride back to her mother's home to recognize her parents-in-law. If the accompanying young man is a naughty boy, when they arrive at the bride's home, the young man will be the first to enter the door, sweetly and sweetly, first called the father called mom, then the groom also called, so that the bride's parents confused which is their son-in-law.
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Tourist Attractions
Xichang Satellite Launch Base Qionghai Lunjun Mountain Lugu Lake Dafeng Dengding Ma Lake Yihai Lingshan Temple Ganluo Chingxi Gorge Muli Daxue Temple Mutianwang Ancient Sculpture Group Shui Luo Township Ruo Ya Township Liangshan Yi Ethnicity Museum
Culture and Art
Yi people are able to sing and dance well. The Yi folk have a variety of traditional tunes, such as climbing the mountain, entering the door, welcoming guests, eating wine, marrying, crying and mourning, etc. Some tunes have fixed words. Some tunes have fixed words, while others do not, and are improvised. Mountain songs are divided into male and female voices, and each region has its own unique style of mountain songs. Yi musical instruments include the gourd sheng, mabu, bawu, mouth string, moon zither, flute, three strings, chimes, copper drums, big flat drums and so on. The Yi dances are also quite distinctive, divided into two categories: dada body dances and solo dances, most of which are group dances, such as "Jumping Songs", "Jumping Music", "Jumping Moon", "Playing Songs and Dances" and "Playing Songs and Dances". There are two types of dances, most of which are group dances, such as "Jumping Song", "Jumping Music", "Jumping Moon", "Playing Song and Dance" and "Pot Zhuang Dance". The movements are cheerful and rhythmic, and are usually accompanied by flutes, moon zithers, and sanxian strings.
Music
The songs of the Yi people include: historical poems, love songs, joyful songs, customary songs--in which there are songs of joyful drinking, songs of calling souls, songs of sending ghosts, and songs of sorcerers, and so on; in terms of name, the songs are Oh, Ya, Zuo, Ge, etc. "Oh" is the name of the song, and "Zuo" is the name of the song, and "Zuo" is the name of the song. "Russia" is the meaning of singing, can be sung on various occasions, the atmosphere is more relaxed and casual; "Ya" is a kind of solo mountain song, the singers are generally young men and women, mostly touching the feelings; "left" is a wedding song, the wedding song is a kind of wedding song. "is a wedding song, held in the wedding night, by the host and guest each out of two singers dance and sing;" Ge "is a memorial to the dead or ancestor activities when the prescribed action, Bi Mo with wine or water poured to the red hot iron or charcoal on the block, while reading the words, will need to be offered sacrifices or need to lift the The object to be offered or lifted is shaken in the rising water vapor, and sometimes the person who has been bewitched crosses over the iron or charcoal block that has been poured with water, meaning that the uncleanness of the object or person is eliminated. The words read are not improvised, there are many hand-copied texts passed down from generation to generation, depending on the different uses of the chant; "Bi" refers to the behavior of Yi Bimo in the recitation of scriptures during religious activities. Music includes song and dance music, mouth string music and leaf blowing music, each of which has its own tunes. In addition, there are a variety of musical instruments: the moon zither is one of the favorite instruments of the Yi people, the strings are generally two, with strong artistic expression; the mouth string is made of bamboo and copper shaped like a bamboo leaf reed, in the middle of the reed tongue, by controlling the breathing to regulate the tone; the "Mabu" is one of the unique musical instruments of the Yi people, whose blowing is characterized by the use of nostrils to inhale and let the puffed cheeks continue to blow. Mabu" is one of the unique musical instruments of the Yi people, its blowing is characterized by the use of nostrils to inhale, so that the drum cheeks continuously send gas, which can be imitated as a baby crying, birds singing; gourd sheng and suona, mostly used to play the folk songs and tunes of the Yi people.
Liangshan Yi music is simple and ancient in style, with many varieties and distinctive and rich national characteristics. The folk songs in folk music are closely related to folk literature, and many long lyrical poems that are commonly circulated, such as "Amo Nijar", "Ai A Gluttony", "Ajar Nun", "A Silk Niu Niu" and so on. All of them were sung in the form of songs. In addition to narrative songs, there are songs sung at the time of marriage, such as the "Jatak", torch festival songs such as "all fire", songs sung at the time of labor, such as "ploughing song", "pastoral song" and so on. In addition, there are mountain songs, such as Butuan Gosheng mountain songs, children's songs and so on.
Yi folk songs vary in style depending on the region. The folk songs in the southern part of Liangshan Mountain are high-pitched and exciting, those in the central and western part are soft and graceful, and those in the eastern part of Enuo are thick and simple. In the past, the Yi folk songs, in general, gave people a sense of depression, but its simple and beautiful ethnic and regional flavor is very distinct. Folk instrumental music is not for accompaniment, but developed independently and formed its own system. The striking thing is that it shows a great span of history and space. The common ones are mouth string, moon zither, mabu, gourd sheng, huqin, yi xiao, harp flute, suona and so on. In addition, wood leaf blowing, i.e. playing music with a leaf, is also a favorite folk music of the Yi people. Harmonious strings and moon zither are so common that almost all women, young and old, have a pair of strings hanging in front of their lapels, ready to be played at any time. Mouthstrings are a unique and simple musical instrument, consisting of several thin reeds about seven or eight centimeters long, bamboo and copper two kinds of pieces, the least two pieces, the most up to five or six pieces. Bamboo tone deep, low. Copper tone crisp, beautiful. Blowing fingers to pluck the reeds, the use of the mouth **** sound changes in tone. Reeds in addition to the sound, but also issued a very beautiful overtone, constituting a wider range of musical tunes. Yueqin is mostly loved by young and middle-aged men, many of whom are excellent folk Yueqin players. 50s, Liangshan Yi girl Shama Wuzhi in Moscow World Youth Festival played the Yueqin. It was warmly praised.
Dance
Liangshan Yi folk dance is often inseparable from singing and instrumental music. One type of folk dance is produced in the production of labor dances such as buckwheat dance, bunting dance, felt weaving dance, etc., most of them are simulated labor action and performance of the production process. Another category is in the festivals or in the marriage of the joy of the scene in the common dance such as jumping pot Zhuang, jumping "all fire", the foot dance, was felt dance, reed to dance. Some of them show the hard work of farming and herding. Some of them show the hard work of farming and herding, the joy of harvest, and some of them show the bravery of war and the pursuit of love. The clans of the Yi in Yunnan are very complex, and their music has its own characteristics. The "Four Great Cavities" (Hai Cai Cavity, Yam Cavity, Wushan Cavity and Four Cavities) circulating in the Red River area is a kind of large-scale multi-part suite favored by the local people, which is sung by both men and women in the customary activities of socializing such as "Eating Fireweed and Smoke". Its lyrics are in Chinese, and its length, complex structure and various singing forms make it very rare among the folk songs in China. Among them, the Hai Cai Cavity, which has a long history, beautiful melody and unique singing style, is well known at home and abroad, and was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage protection object in 2006. As for the Yi folk songs in Guizhou, which are in various forms and with regional characteristics, they are often divided into two categories according to the concepts of big and small classification: those sung in the mountains and those sung at home; the former mainly include the "Qugu" which is sung in pairs or solo according to a certain program at the song meetings and festivals, and "Sharp Forks" which is used to sing Yi songs in Chinese; the latter includes the wedding ceremonies. The latter includes the "scolding No", "rubbing fruit park", "RuGuoPu" of the bridesmaids questioning their relatives in each link of the wedding, and the "LuWai" of the guests and hosts wishing each other well. "Luwai", wedding songs such as "Qujie" before the bride's marriage, funeral songs collectively known as "___he", and folk stories and historical myths and legends sung by "The Yi people are all capable of singing. The Yi people are all good at singing and dancing, and there are two types of songs and dances with songs and dances and musical dances accompanied by musical instruments. The most famous of the former, such as the "beat song", "foot drop", etc., rhythmic, fast-paced; the latter due to the different accompanying musical instruments and each has its own characteristics, more representative of the "jumping music", "Since the 1950s, the Yi ethnic area has also witnessed the emergence of the rap "Kasu" and "Four-stringed Playing and Singing" developed from narrative songs, as well as the Yi opera whose music originates from folk songs, songs and dance tunes, and instrumental music. and instrumental music. These new artistic styles have greatly enriched the musical life of the Yi people and have brought a new luster to their traditional music. There are three colorful areas of Yi folk music: the big and small Liangshan Mountains in Liangshan, Sichuan and Ninglang, Yunnan; the central, southern and northern parts of Yunnan; and the Liupanshui and Bijie areas in Guizhou. The mountain songs of the Liangshan Yi are called "Ya" or "Yahe", and are sung exclusively in falsetto or in small voices with high voices, and the tuning often alternates or wanders. Due to the low productivity of the area and the hardship of the people, there are a lot of "Sajuhe" (Songs of Complaints and Sufferings), which is a song of complaining about the misery of life and yearning for freedom. In addition, the narrative songs of the Liangshan Yi, the "Daughter-in-Law Harmony Niqi" (marriage songs), and the "Guzhuho" (love songs), in which "A Rannyu" serves as the characteristic song leader, are also found in the area. These songs are also very representative of the genre. Among them, "Amo Rija", which means "mother's daughter", and "Leru Tei", an epic poem about the creation of the world, are also masterpieces of Yi folklore. The flowers of Liangshan songs and dances blossomed from Yi folk art, not only displaying their splendor on the Chinese and foreign stages, but also opening up everywhere in the modern life. Today, in the cities and villages of Liangshan, you can often see men and women, young and old, hand in hand, stepping on the rhythm of national flavor, joyfully jumping Darti dance. Da body is the phonetic translation of the Yi language, meaning the dance of stepping on the ground or pedal dance, is a collective dance created on the basis of the traditional Yi songs and dances. It is a collective dance based on traditional Yi songs and dances, with concise and fast movements, melodious and smooth music, rich local flavor and strong color of the times, which was formed in the 80's and quickly popularized in the whole state and pushed to the outside of the state and the outside of the province in the momentum of the ethnic dance in the southwestern part of the state. In 94 Liangshan Yi International Torch Festival guests from home and abroad and Yi compatriots hand in hand, around a pile of green fire, jumping together, melting into one family. Jumping together, fused into a family, the scene is warm and spectacular, the atmosphere is cordial and touching.
Diet
The main food in the life of the Yi people is mostly corn, followed by buckwheat, rice, potatoes, wheat and oats. Meat, mainly beef, pork, mutton, chicken, etc., like to cut into fist-sized boiled food, the Han Chinese called "steely meat". The big and small Liangshan Mountains and most of the Yi people forbid eating dog meat, do not eat horse meat and frogs and snakes and other meat. The Yi are fond of sour and spicy food, and are addicted to wine, and have the etiquette of treating guests with wine. Wine is indispensable for solving all kinds of disputes, making friends, weddings, funerals and other occasions.
The Yi are the most populous ethnic minority group in Southwest China, distributed in several provinces in southwest China. Yunnan Yi accounted for 2/3, due to live in the geographical environment and resources are extremely rich, based on agriculture, the Yi people more planted corn, potatoes, barley, wheat and buckwheat. Vegetables are also more abundant. Living in mountainous and semi-mountainous areas of the Yi people like to raise sheep, especially in the small Liangshan Mountains of the Yi people to raise the most sheep.
Sheep meat is their main food source, eating sheep have some special customs: sheep liver, sheep belly first used to worship ancestral spirits, and then burned food, but also raw food; sheep brain to the old man to eat; in the childbearing period of women avoid eating rams; shepherds can not eat sheep tails; sheep's blood mixed with shredded carrots and pickled to make salted vegetables, put on the rice and steamed to eat, the taste is particularly delicious.
Yi people eat chicken also have some preoccupations. Generally eat stewed, cooked in clay pots, without a knife. Cooked chicken torn into strips by hand, dipped in chili, pepper juice. The head of the chicken is eaten by the elderly, and to see the gua (the shape of the chicken brain).
The Yi people like to drink wine, which is divided into two kinds: sweet and spicy, and used to be brewed in their own homes. Sweet wine is made from glutinous rice and spicy wine is made from sorghum or corn. There is a tradition of "guests arriving home without wine is not respect".
The Yi ethnic group in the New Year festivals should be vertebrate cattle and sheep, slaughter pigs and chickens, and usually rarely move animals, unless the hospitality guests. The Yi people have a custom of killing the New Year pig, half of which is reserved for their own consumption, and the other half is given to their in-laws. The New Year pig is often used for curing, hung up and dried to become bacon or ham. During the New Year festival, they also eat steely meat, patties, and drink altar wine, soaking water wine and wine tea.
The 24th day of the 6th lunar month, the torch festival, families slaughtered sheep and chickens, cooking new buckwheat rice. Mixed with mutton, sprinkled around, said the sacrifice, praying for good crops, no disaster and no disease. At night, lighting torches, singing and dancing to disperse insects and pests. Guangxi Yi in the first day of September to beat the Poi Festival, there is "tasting new" custom, that is, eating new rice. These are festive food customs.
The Yi have a set of social etiquette food customs. The Yi family is hospitable, and all guests at home should be treated with wine first. Banquet specifications or large or small, to vertebrae cattle as a gift, playing sheep, killing pigs, slaughtering chickens gradually followed. When playing livestock, the animals should be brought to the front of the guest to show respect. To cattle, sheep to guests are not knife, hand pinch dead or pounded to death, so it is called playing the animals, the technique is very agile, often livestock is not dead and the skin has been stripped.
The order of seating during the feast has a certain customary system, generally around the pots and pans on the ground and eat, the guests generally let sit in the pots and pans on the top of the first, Yi said "sip ergo" place; evaluation of the accompanied by the pots and pans on the right first, Yi said "Nimu" place; helpers, women, and friends and family The helpers, women, relatives and friends sit at the lower head of the potlatch, which is called "sip kigo" in Yi. When there are many guests, they are extended to the right side.
The order in which the wine is served is based on the Yi proverb, "Plow the land from the bottom up, serve the wine from the top down". The first seat is the upper seat and then the lower seat, "the wine is for the elderly, the meat is for the young", and after the wine is served to the guest of honor, it should be served to the elderly first, and then to the young people, so that everyone can have a share in it.
In the countryside, regardless of marriage and funeral, there are "six in the morning and eight in the evening" custom. That is, six bowls of rice in the morning, such as water tofu, braised pork, back to the pot of meat, cabbage vermicelli, pig's blood and peanut rice. Eight bowls of rice in the evening, such as yellow strips, braised pork, crepe sand (fried meat skin), thousand sheets of meat, cold white meat, braised Chinese sausage, peanuts, etc., and the economic well-being of the stewed bowl of chicken. Yi people are good at baking, frying, boiling, mixing and other cooking techniques, taste of salty, fragrant, spicy, hemp, especially famous for the production of latkes.
The Yi people have wine and tea as their daily beverages, and they treat their guests with wine, which is said to be "expensive tea for the Han people and expensive wine for the Yi people".
Most of the Yi are used to eating three meals a day, with mixed grain noodles and rice as the main food. The Yi in the Handsha River, Anning River and Dadu River Basin eat mostly lump rice for breakfast. Lunch is served in the form of poha as the staple food, with wine and food available. In all the poi, to buckwheat noodles do the most characteristic poi. It is said that the buckwheat flour poop has the effect of eliminating food, resolving accumulation, stopping sweating, anti-inflammatory, and can be stored for a long time without deterioration. Guizhou women's Ning buckwheat pastry has become a prestigious local traditional snacks.
Meat to pig, sheep, beef-based. Mainly made into a "pile of meat", cattle soup pot, sheep soup pot, or roast sheep, roast piglets, deer, bears, rock sheep, wild boar, etc. obtained from hunting is also a daily meat supplement.
The mountains are also rich in mushrooms, fungus and walnuts, which, together with the vegetables produced in the gardens, make for a wide range of vegetables. In addition to freshly eaten, most of them are made into sauerkraut, which is divided into two kinds: dried sauerkraut and pickled sauerkraut, and another kind of dish called "dolabar" is also the most common dish among the people.
Typical food that the Yi people often eat: buckwheat, Yi flavor staple; batter pickled meat, Yi farming dishes; white boiled suckling pig, Yunnan Yi traditional delicacies, boiled suckling pig dipped in water; pan ba oil powder, Yunnan Yi flavor snacks, made of pea flour.