The so-called Dragon Sacrifice is a sacrifice to the god of the walled village, which in the eyes of the Yi people in southern Yunnan is a symbol of their ancestors. When building a walled village, they would choose a dense forest with high ground at the head of the village and designate it as a sacred mountain, and then choose a cedar tree there, which is considered a sacred tree. It is said that the ancestors of the people of Tiger's Mouth are attached to the sacred tree, and the whole Dragon Sacrifice activity is centered around the sacred tree.
Only men can participate in the Dragon Sacrifice, and all of them, no matter how young or old they are, have to go to the sacred mountain to concentrate. The black pig for the sacrifice was purchased by the whole village with a combined sum of money, while whole chickens were donated voluntarily by those families who wanted to transit. The dragon's head will divide the boiled pork, with flowers and banana leaves, and offer it in front of the sacred tree as a representation of the whole family's remembrance of their ancestors.
When the dragon ceremony begins, the men will kneel in front of the sacred tree in turn, hand over the consecrated money, and then the dragon head will bring the banana leaves as a symbol of family cohesion. After the kowtow, all the members will gather together to look at the pig's liver left behind after killing the pig, which is an ancient custom of the Yi people in southern Yunnan, that is, according to the "liver trigrams" to predict the good and bad luck of the coming year. If the pig's liver is black in color, it is a sign that there will be ups and downs in the coming year. At this time, the dragon's head will lead the group to pray to the sacred tree, hoping that their ancestors can protect them.
Yi Nisu Branch--Shiping Hua Waist Yi Dragon Sacrifice
Shiping County, Yunnan's Whangchong Township is inhabited by the Nisu branch of the Yi ethnic group, which is descended from the ancient Qiang, and is known as the Hua Waist Yi. They worship the dragon, its sacrifice dragon, dragon dance mysterious and unique. Here the dragon has a male and female points, women dance green dragon that is the female dragon, men dance yellow dragon that is the male dragon; double dragon **** dance, male and female play phoenix first fly.
The residence of the Huashai Yi is the unique soil palm house in the Yi area. Its walls and roofs are made of rammed earth, which is warm in winter and cool in summer, and the roofs are connected to each other, so you can run through the whole village on the roof of one house.
The Yi people hold a dragon festival every year, and in the twelve-year round of the Year of the Horse, the month of the Horse, the Day of the Horse, it is necessary to sacrifice the big dragon, which is called "De Pei Hao" festival in Yi language. Each village has a dragon tree on a nearby hillside. Sacrifice dragon into, first elected a full of respected old man for the "Dragon King", by the Dragon King with tilting everyone to worship the Dragon Tree, sacrifices to the Dragon God. Sacrificing the dragon is a sacred activity, the Dragon King leads everyone to carry incense and candles, live pigs, fruit and vegetables and other offerings, up the hill to worship the Dragon God. At the foot of the slope, there are three rows of small oak trees composed of a channel, anyone has to pass through the channel to go up the mountain, never allowed to scramble, not allowed to go wrong, out of the same. Lighting incense and candles, offerings, worship the Dragon God, the general public can only worship in front of the two altars, the second altar above is considered a restricted area. Except for the Dragon King, whoever steps on the altar will be punished for violating the taboo. And what the Dragon King does when he goes up to the Dragon Tree is known only to him.
After the worship, the dragon will be taken back to the village, and the dragon will have a spirit, and the Yi dragon team will carry the dragon into the village and walk around the village for the villagers to drive away the evil spirits and pray for peace. The most fun and exciting part of the festival is the dragon dance.
The dragons here are male and female. The dragon dance girls are all between 15 and 18 years old, young and strong. Bai Cuilin, the head dancer, is 17 years old and has been learning the dragon dance since she was 12. A long dragon is danced by 12 girls***, representing 12 Chinese zodiac signs and 12 years. Flower waist girls dance dragon, there are unique, dragon head, a move, tiger wind: only to see the girl down to the ground flat dance, turning up a thousand waves, and see the dragon out of the sky, swinging up ten thousand auspicious clouds. Villagers eyes with the dragon leap, love with the dragon ...... dragon dance activities after the end of the people jumped up joyful smoke box dance.
The Yi people are still black, black is expensive. The girls dance the green dragon, can be seen in the rich colors of its matriarchal culture; in the traditional concept of the Yi people, everything in the world are divided into male and female, male and female play all things flourish. It is this deep cultural heritage, so that the flower waist Yi at the end of last year, to Beijing to participate in the "Chinese Welcome to the New Century Yi Dragon Competition. Won the gold medal; welcome the return of Macao, was invited to perform in Tiananmen Square, in Beijing scraped up a "Yunnan Chinese Dragon Century Wind".