Yao have their own language, the Yao language belongs to the Chinese and Tibetan languages. The Yao language is a branch of the Yao language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, but the situation is more complicated, more than half of the people speak "Mian" words, belonging to the Yao language family of the Yao branch of the Miao Yao language; two-fifths of the people speak "Bunu" language, belonging to the Miao branch of the Miao language; some in the Guangxi region speak Some people in Guangxi area speak "Laja" language, which belongs to the Zhuang and Dong language family. Most of them are fluent in Chinese and Zhuang, and they do not have their own national scripts, but generally use Chinese as a common language. Oral literature is extremely rich.
The Yao people have 63 kinds of self-proclaimed names, such as Mian, Men, Min, etc., and 390 kinds of other names, such as Panyao, Indigo Yao, and Red Head Yao. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, they were collectively called the Yao.
By the limitations of the living area, most Yao people still retain the primitive hunting, fishing and farming culture, as well as exquisite Yao brocade, Yao clothing, ancient legends, melodious Yao songs, beautiful dances, unique marriage customs and religious beliefs. Yao women are good at weaving, dyeing and embroidery, and their costumes have exquisite patterns and designs, which are rich in variations. Most of the clans are called by their costumes, for example, those who wear headdresses with boards supporting them are called top-board Yao, and those who wear indigo clothes are called indigo Yao. The language of the Yao people is complex, with many dialects, no writing, and the Chinese language is commonly used. In order to commemorate their ancestors, October 16th of the lunar calendar is designated as "Panwang Festival". The Yao mainly believe in primitive religions, worshiping the gods of the village, the family, the mountains, the wind, etc., and also divining auspicious dates and sacrificing to the gods for their activities in life and production. The religious beliefs of the Yao people are complicated, and Wicca, Taoism and primitive religions vary from place to place.
Festivals
In addition to the Spring Festival, Ching Ming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, etc., the Yao also have their own unique traditional festivals, such as the Panwang Festival, the Spring Festival, the Danu Festival, the Juggling Festival, and the Pagga Festival. Festivals because of the large number of people, rice generally do not use iron pots and pans to cook, but with wooden Zhen steam, this rice aroma is stronger. Every festival. Yao people also want to do poi. Festival dishes are mainly chicken, duck, fish, pork, tofu, vermicelli and various vegetables. In some places, Yao people also cook umi rice on April 8th. The Yao girls in Jiangshui County, Hunan Province, eat flower eggs, make flower poi and eat flower candies on the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar every year when they celebrate the "Picnic Festival". The girls ate flower eggs, flower sugar and flower poi poi, lads are not allowed to peep, violators will be punished.
Juggling Songtang is a large-scale recreational activity for Liannan Paiyao to worship their ancestors and celebrate the harvest, which is mostly carried out after the 16th day of the 10th month of the lunar calendar, and the length of time varies from 3 to 9 days. At that time, every family has water wine, glutinous rice poop to entertain the guests, Yao sacrifices to the gods, generally with pigs, chickens, ducks, eggs, fish and other food, avoid using dogs, snakes, cats, frogs and other meat. The Yao people must cut cows to offer sacrifices for funerals. The number of head of cattle depends on the family, some kill as many as 7 or 8 heads. To do funeral banquet, some places to pork and tofu-based.
Yao Panwang Festival: The 16th day of the 10th month of the lunar calendar is the grandest Panwang Festival of Yao singing. In ancient times, the Yao Mountain Evaluation King and the high king fighting. The King of Evaluation offered a reward to the one who could take the head of the High King, and would marry the most beautiful three princesses to him. Unexpectedly, the next day, a colorful dog named Pandu brought the head of the High King. The king did not break his promise and promised his beloved princess to the colorful dog and named the dog as the king of Pandu. On the wedding night, the colorful dog turned into a strong man, the princess was very happy. Later, the princess for the king of the pan gave birth to six men and six daughters, passed down the twelve Yao family name. One day, King Pan went to the mountains to hunt, but was accidentally killed by an antelope off a cliff. Upon hearing the news, his children caught the antelope, skinned it to make a long drum, and danced angrily to avenge their father's death. From then on, every day, the Yao people would gather together to sing and dance in honor of King Pan. Today, the "Pan Wang Festival" has gradually developed into a celebration of the harvest of the fellowship. Young men and women take this opportunity to sing about their love for each other and look for a good match.
Girls Street: is a traditional festival of the Yao people, held every year after the Spring Festival, the first street period. Every time this street period, the girls of all ethnic groups put on colorful national costumes, from all directions to the market. Festival of the town, a joyful atmosphere, in the square, girls of all ethnic groups in a circle, singing and dancing to the accompaniment of musical instruments. There is also a striking tournament of gyros. Gyro is made of hard wood, the game, two groups separated by a certain distance, each group of people take turns with their own spinning gyro to touch each other's spinning gyro. After hitting the hit gyro is still spinning for the winner. In addition, the streets and alleys are full of colorful silk thread, lace, silverware, jewelry and other goods and a variety of delicious snacks. Men and women, bustling, crowded the street. In the happy crowd, there are dressed in peach blossom figure clothing, wearing earrings, bracelets of the Yao girls; there are wearing a large collar, short, pleated skirt, neck set of three or four necklaces of the Miao girls, there are dressed in black pants, chest wearing a large silver ring - "Batch of Suo" of the Ha girls, there are dressed in lace and lace, silver jewelry and other commodities and delicious food. There are also the Yi girls who wear lacy, beautifully embroidered costumes and silver bubble "cockles". They sell their agricultural and sideline products in the market in groups and buy lace, colorful silk threads and silver jewelry such as earrings and bracelets in front of the stalls. As the sun set, people in the town dispersed one after another, while the fields outside the town were filled with singing. Pairs of young men and women of all nationalities, on the hillside, under the trees, by the stream, by the lake, singing. Songs, piano and laughter are intertwined, swinging in the "girl street". Spring Festival of the Yao PeopleThe Yao people have a unique and interesting activity in the Spring Festival, which is the performance of "farming drama". On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people gather in the village square to watch the "Plowing Play". "Cultivation play" by a person playing a cow, a companion to support the plow farmer, a person playing a hoe farmer, three people singing and dancing, after watching, young men and women indulge in song and dance. Song and dance, the girls, if they fancy the man of the hour, they carefully embroidered flower belt or their own silver jewelry, hanging in the young man's waist, to show their love, some areas of the Yao newlyweds, in the Chinese New Year Festival with gifts to the father-in-law's home to pay homage to the woman must be hosted a banquet. During the banquet, the father-in-law sang a song wishing the newlyweds hard work and harmony, white head to old age.
"Catch the bird festival": the first day of February every year, is the Yao people's "catch the bird festival". Every year on this day, regardless of rain or shine, a radius of 50, 60 miles of cottage men and women young people, dressed in a colorful blue lined with white trimmed festive national costume, tied with colorful bandana, set of embroidered shoes and socks, holding a green cloth umbrella, a group, a group, gather the hill. Pair of men and women, or four men and four women, sitting on the green lawn, rocky head, or snuggling tea tree root and root, under the pine tree, sweetly singing love songs, songs, guessing the word song, riddle song, from sunrise to the moonrise, thirsty, drink a handful of spring: hungry, eat a few poop rake. Birds forget to nest, singers do not want to go home, until the night dew wet the head of the handkerchief, they only men send women, women send men, send over the ridge, send over the mountain, send a ride, sing a section, almost into the walled village door, only affectionate, reluctant to part. On this day, the young people are busy catching up with the song, looking for a soulmate; the elderly will be at home, the overnight pounding out of glutinous rice, pinched into the size of a coin, poked on a bamboo branch, inserted in the altar side or next to the door of the hall, called "bird rake", let the neighbors and children to take food. It is said that the bird pecked the rake, it will be stuck to the shell of the beak, and will not spoil the grains anymore. In the evening, the people of the farming village string fire pit, tasting each family's "bird rake", hoping for a good omen.
Inverted Draft Festival: October 16th of the lunar calendar, is the Yao people's traditional celebration of the harvest. At this time, the rice, sweet potatoes, cabbage, corn and other crops have been harvested, the Yao people set this day as "reverse draft festival". Before this day, whoever planted who harvested, not allowed to cut indiscriminately, or according to the township rules and regulations of the people to impose a fine. After this day, anyone can go up and down the hill to collect the fruits of the harvest, who collects who gets, shall not interfere.
"Song Hall" Festival: Yao young men and women talk about love, singing courtship festival. According to traditional custom, held every three to five years. Generally held on the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month lasts three days, nine days. When the festival comes before, each family has to notify friends and relatives from near and far to come to visit in advance. On the night of the festival, young men and women gather around the bonfire and sing love songs, passing on their love through songs, and the songs are long and deep, and they go on all night long before they stop. During the festival, people wear new clothes, put on new headscarves, inserted brocade chicken feathers; streets and alleys, bustling, lively. "At the beginning of the festival, the tablets of the ancestors are carried out from the temple for parade and worship. It is accompanied by gongs, drums and waist drums, as well as the firing of earthenware and copper cannons. When the middle-aged and elderly people carry the statue of Zu Gong and parade around the streets, a group of young women and young men gather in the square and sing songs to the young girls in pairs or groups of two or three. The number of young people participating in the singing sometimes reaches eighty or ninety pairs. As the young men sang one after another, the girls carefully surveyed the singing young men and secretly chose their favorites. The young men also sing to their heart's content to win the hearts of the girls, and after getting to know each other in the singing hall during the day, they can sing to the girls alone at night to woo them. During the festival, each family makes twenty to thirty pounds of sticky rice patties to entertain relatives and friends. Each family also put out a number of water wine (about seven pounds), for people to drink at will.