Introduction to the Achang People
Introduction to the Achang People
The population of the Achang People*** is more than 27,000, which is a unique ethnic group in Yunnan, mainly living in Longchuan County, Lianghe County, and Luxi City in Dehong Prefecture in the western region of Yunnan Province, and a small number of people also live in Tengchong and Longling Counties of Baoshan Prefecture. The Tusa area in Longchuan County and the Chaidao area in Lianghe County are the most concentrated places.
The Achang people have their own language, but no writing. The Achang language is divided into two dialects, Tousa and Lianghe, and most Achang people speak Chinese and Dai, while the Achang in Tousa also speak Burmese and Jingpo, and many of them can speak five or six languages. This is probably because the Achang people are good at socializing with the nearby ethnic groups in history, and constantly learn from other ethnic groups.
The Achang settlement area is located in the hilly mountainous terrain and flat dams of the Gaoligong Mountains, which provides good conditions for the development of Achang agricultural production. The Achang people are mainly engaged in agriculture and are famous for growing rice. There are many varieties of rice with good quality, and the "Huanpei Gong" variety in Lianghe area used to be called the "King of Rice". Achang people made iron is also very prestigious, to the "Tosha knife" is known in the world.
History of the Achang
In the Chinese historical books, in addition to "Achang", there are also "Echang", "Kochang", "Ochang" and other titles. Because of the different areas of residence, there are also some self-proclaimed names, such as "move Sa Shan", "lining Sa", "Han Sa" and so on. Their ancestors lived in the Jinsha River, Lancang River and Nujiang River Basin in northwestern Yunnan for a long time. Around the 13th century AD, after many migrations, the Achang people gradually settled in the current settlement area. The Achang people learned the techniques of cultivating paddy fields and making iron tools from the Han Chinese soldiers stationed at the border, which promoted the division of labor between agriculture and handicrafts and the initial development of the commodity economy. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Achang area was under the jurisdiction of the Nanzhao and Dali regimes. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Tusi system has been practiced. Before the liberation, the Achang area is in the feudal lord economy, the landlord economy has some development. At that time, most of the lords were Dai tribesmen, and most of the landowners were ***.
Achang music
The Achang have about 18,000 people, mainly in Yunnan Province, Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Longchuan and other counties. The Achang do not have their own script, they have their own language, and they believe in Hinayana Buddhism.
"Song Duo" is the favorite activity of Achang young men and women, and "Stomping Oro" is the oldest traditional song and dance activity. During festivals, young men and women sing love songs to each other, and the tunes of the khoro are sung as they are made up.
Achang etiquette
The Achang people are hospitable, respect the old and love the young, and have many good traditional etiquette. Guests come home to take a break, the host should be good wine and tea hospitality, meal courtesy on the seat, such as guests young generation small can be excused to sit on the side of the seat or sit below; meet the toast pouring tea, avoid not courtesy on acceptance. The Achang people have the custom of advising the guests to have rice, no matter whether they will drink wine and tea or not, it is taboo for the guests not to accept; when advised to have rice, no matter whether they are full or not, they should extend their hands to hold the bowl and receive it; hands to receive the handover or get up and salute, which is regarded as respecting. Usually persuade rice is symbolic, through the persuasion of rice to speak of love, and even singing rice mountain song lyrics, said welcome guests is the real reason.
Achang Festival
The Achang people used to believe in Hinayana Buddhism. The Achang people in the area of Lianghe and Luxi mainly practiced ghost worship and ancestor worship. The main religious festivals include the Into the Pits (Closed Door Festival), Out of the Pits (Open Door Festival), Burning of White Chai, and Water Splashing Festival. In addition to religious festivals, there are also many traditional festivals unique to this ethnic group. For example, Torch Festival, Wuluo Festival, Flower Pouring Festival and Spring Festival. Among them, the torch festival and Wuluo Festival is larger, with more activities.
Voro Festival: held on the fourth day of the first month of the lunar calendar every year, to commemorate the legendary Achang ancestor Chapa Ma, Chapa Ma for the people to get rid of the harm, the merits of the future generations, when people have to sacrifice the best dishes, and then kill the dog to eat dog meat and taro, if in the day of the sacrifice can catch a python, it is considered to be more auspicious.
Torch Festival: held on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month every year, in order to pray for a good harvest, to drive away insects and rainy days, to kill pigs, slaughter cows and sacrifices, when the cooked fire roasted raw pork mixed with rice noodles to everyone to share food. After night, point torches around the village to swim.
Water Festival: and the local Dai, the Achang people also have Water Festival, Water Festival is a good opportunity for young people to choose a spouse, often by the girl's family prepared eight bowls of dishes to entertain the young man who came to the string of relatives. Only when the number of people attending the dinner matches can everyone be seated. The young man in the case of others do not realize the girl's home to steal the chicken head, such as chicken head by the girl to find out, to steal the chicken head to be punished by a bowl of wine, otherwise the girl will be punished to drink. If the stealer is caught red-handed, he will not only be punished, but also made fun of by the girl. After drinking, the young man has to give the girl the money without letting her realize it, according to the price of the food.
Sower's Day and Taste of the New Festival: Sower's Day and Taste of the New Festival are the traditional festivals of the Achang people, which are held on the 10th day of the 3rd month of the lunar calendar and the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar every year. At that time, every family cleans the courtyard and houses, prepares fish, meat, rice noodles, acidic food and rice wine according to the traditional custom, and then goes to the ground to pull up a? Then they go to the ground and pluck a taro with the largest seeds and cut a corn with two ears, then tie the corn and taro on a bamboo pole three to five feet long and put them in the left or right corner of the hall. Afterwards, the new grain is pounded into rice and steamed, and a fat chicken is killed and placed on the sacrificial table to honor the ancestors. They also take back the married girl and have a family reunion. After the meal, men wear blue, black or plain color lapel short tops and black pants; women wear a blouse with lapel, skirt, girdle, and a silver collar with a silver chain, silver whiskers, silver dollars and other ornaments around their necks; and young girls put their discs on top of their heads. Everyone gathers in front of and behind the village to sing and dance, and the festival is very lively. The origins of the festival and the festival of tasting the new have a long history.
According to legend, a long time ago, the Achang people have an old woman, every year in mid-August, when the crops are ripe, she is always full of all kinds of cereal seeds, choose to stay in the next year when the seed, to give others. Because she often helped people in and out of the village to improve their farming techniques, she was loved and respected by the people. In August of one year, the old woman died before the harvest. People were saddened by the fact that this generous old woman, who had worked hard all her life, had left the earth without eating the grain she had grown and wearing the new cloth she had woven. So the rice, beans and vegetables that she had planted during her lifetime were made into fragrant meals, and the cloth woven by her was made into new clothes, which were offered to the old woman in front of her soul.
Since then, every year, the family calendar August 15, Achang families will clean up the house, with the year's harvest of rice, beans, fruits, etc. made into a meal to eat a meal, so that the formation of Achang tasted the new festival. The second year after the death of the old woman in March, people left her seeds, sprinkled to the ground, so every year on the tenth day of the third month of the lunar calendar, and the formation of the Achang seed festival.
Until today, the Achang people also use the daughter-in-law to return to her mother's home for the opportunity of seeding festival, the exchange of agricultural seed varieties, in order to achieve the purpose of increasing production and harvest.
Hui Street: Hui Street is the traditional *** of Achang people, which is held in the middle of September in the lunar calendar every year. Achang people believe in Hinayana Buddhism, will be street originally religious ***. Legend has it that "a hit horse" (Achang language, meaning the Bodhisattva) on the way to heaven to get the scriptures, overcame a lot of difficulties, and finally got the scriptures, and decided to return to earth on September 15th. Achang people in order to meet "a hit horse" return, will tie up the green dragon, white elephant, by young men and women to collect fasting rice, cooking out fasting rice for fasting. Later, it gradually evolved into a national festival.
On that occasion, men wore blue, black or white lapel tops, black pants, diagonally back a "tube of Pa", playing headbuns, stay behind the head more than a foot long head cloth, married women wearing long sleeves and narrow lapel dress and cover to the knee skirt, wrapped legs, wrapped in black cloth or blue cloth wrapped head. The girls are mostly a hair disc disc on the top of the head, with a two-finger wide cloth around the disc, four silver buttons side by side in front of the chest, four long silver chain hanging on the buttons, wearing silver Canghua and collars, earrings and other jewelry. During the street, the main thing is to play since the elephant, the dance of the green dragon. White elephants and dragons are village artists with bamboo and wood carefully braided, generally bamboo and wood frame, paper body, cloth as the elephant trunk. Playing the white elephant, a person hidden in the belly from the elephant, both hands pulling the rope with a pulley connected to the trunk, the elephant nose up and down, left and right to fling up. Qinglong, waved by the young man dressed in costume, performing a variety of actions.
The beginning of the street, people to the white elephant, the green dragon tied with red silk, men, women and children of villages and villages clustered around the white elephant, dancing green dragon queue, beating gongs and drums around the village for a week, and then came to the square, will be the white elephant, the green dragon surrounded by the center. At once, the elephant foot drum sound, monopoly gong sound,? sound, the people jumped up the cheerful and bold elephant foot drum dance. When dancing, the drummer is always in harmony with the one who hits the elephant foot drum. The person who always hit the elephant foot drum is diagonally opposite to the person who hit the elephant foot drum, the feet jump back and forth, left and right to move, the leg stomps and closes, the body is like a wave like ups and downs. Jumping jumped forward a big step, then back down a squat, a cross a back a squat for three consecutive times. Emotions reach ***, ? The sound of continuous "?" Playing, dancing with branches of men and women also issued a cheer. The crowd of onlookers warmly applauded. At this time, the white elephant's trunk flung more diligently, the dance of the young man of the green dragon is also more energetic.
Achang marriage customs
Every year, the agricultural season or various festivals *** and the usual labor, are the Achang young people talk about love, looking for a lifelong partner of a good time. Whenever this time, young men, no matter where they go, have to put the gourd piper slanting in the back of the neck in the collar, or don't in the waist, no matter in the village, beside the village, or on the way to catch the street, as long as they meet the beloved girl, they will blow up the melodious music, and pass on the intention to invite the girl to stop, and then go up to talk to the funny, and ask for the girl's name and your name. If the girl is still unattached and interested in getting to know each other, she will respond skillfully. The young man realized, took the initiative to send the girl to go home, the girl to "to send to the village head, can not send halfway" answer, so the young man happily with xiao blowing up the song, accompanied by the girl to go home, the innocent love will thus begin.
Whenever the sun sets, young men eat dinner, busy with a new wash, one by one, quietly came to their beloved girl's home nearby, blowing up the gourd xiao, with a beautiful tune to attract the sweetheart out of the meeting. The girl heard this kind and familiar tune, the heart understand, hurry to go back to the room to dress up. Then she excuses herself and goes out to meet her lover. If it is the first visit, the girl's sister-in-law or mother will also warmly open the door to welcome the young man to the house to sit by the fire, family members have to avoid. So the young man and the girl on the edge of the fire sit in love with each other, or singing love songs, or whispering, love words lingering, to the rooster at dawn, before reluctantly parted.
The world, I do not know how many Achang youth with this magical gourd xiao attracted a beautiful girl, the knot for the good of Qin Jin.
Achang people with the same surname taboo marriage. There is a son-in-law entry custom, the door to the man must change his name with the woman's surname. Achang wedding held three days, such as the dissolution of the marriage contract wedding vows, must return the vow of photographs and hair.
Achang young men and women get married at the wedding banquet, first of all, we should invite the bride's uncle to sit on the top, and set up a plate of gazpacho with pig's brain, and after the banquet, the uncle should send the bride a treaty 4.5 kg with the pig's tail of the thigh, known as the outside meat, said the bride should never forget the mother's family of the grace of parenthood.
The Achang people's bride kidnapping
Before liberation, bride kidnapping is a form of Achang young men and women to conclude a marriage contract. Whenever young people or strong women of the Achang tribe talk about it, they will talk about the joy, sighs and sorrows in it. This phenomenon of robbing strips still occurs from time to time in Lianghe today. It often goes well. There are few cases where the woman's parents are in hot pursuit.
Robbing the bride is generally caused by three reasons: one is the man and woman after a period of free love to establish a relationship, and in the male side of the hiring of the matchmaker to say the bride, the female parents do not agree to the daughter to be another person. In this way, young men and women will privately set a good date for the male party to snatch the marriage. To the scheduled date, the male invited more than a dozen strong young man, in the dead of night into the woman's home, find the girl pulled up and ran. At this point, the girl shouted parents, to show that they were snatched. To snatch the bride of the people, two people pull the girl to run, the rest of the people in the back as a rearguard to stop the pursuing people. Since the girl's parents are unprepared and outnumbered, this kind of bride snatching often goes smoothly.
Secondly, when the actions of the girl and her intended has been discovered by the parents, or the male side of the leakage of information, the girl's parents do not agree, and the girl chose another young man, they will call their own chosen young man to come quickly to pick up the girl. So, the young man will immediately organize people to go, first the girl's home surrounded, and then by two people into the home to look for the girl, found, said to her sentence " cousin, I came to pick you up ", finished by one of the girl back up, clutching her hands, the other lifted the girl's feet, desperately running back. At this time, even if the girl's intended victim to come, can not break into the woman's home or halfway interception, can only look at the girl was snatched. This is a kind of rule of the Achang tribe to snatch the bride.
The third is in the process of love, men and women have set up a vow of alliance, but the female side of the midway change of heart, the male facilitate the organization of people while the girl out of the opportunity to be prepared, halfway to intercept, pull up and run. This kind of robbing marriage often cause armed struggle, resulting in casualties.
Grab the bride to the home, a door on the firecrackers, immediately worship, so that the girl wrapped on the head of the high bag. That night or early the next morning to lead the girl to men and women farther away from relatives to live, and sometimes hide in the mountains and old forests, until the end of the negotiations with the female parent home, to double home.
Because the two sides will eventually become relatives, so no matter how far the original, the male side in the third day after the wedding still have to hire a matchmaker to the female parents to seek peace and marriage. The ceremony was held in the woman's home, the woman's home is not responsible for hospitality, to be responsible for hospitality by the man's home, and pay the woman's home lobbyist wages. Therefore, in addition to hiring a lobbyist, the man must also hire a cook. Negotiations usually last from three to six days. During this time, both the male and female representatives engage in intense bargaining. However, once an agreement is reached, both sides are free of blame and live in harmony, often coming and going, as close as a family.
Achang Clothing
Achang clothing is simple, plain and beautiful. Men mostly wear blue, white or black lapel tops and black pants with short and wide legs. Young men like to wrap their heads in white, and after marriage they change their heads to black. Some middle-aged and elderly people also like to wear felt hats. Young and strong people always leave about 40 centimeters long spikes hanging behind their heads when they play the head wrap. If you go out to the market or to participate in festive gatherings, like to slant back a " 筒帕" (satchel) and a Achang knife.
Women's clothing has age and marriage. Unmarried girls usually wear a variety of colors or lapel blouse, black pants, outside the waist, wearing a black head. Women in the Lianghe area generally wear red or blue lapel tops and tube skirts, calf wrapped leggings, wrapped in black cloth head wraps, up to about 0.3 meters high, head wraps top left also hanging four or five colorful small embroidered balls, quite distinctive. Whenever they go out, the women dress up carefully. They took out a variety of jewelry collection, wearing large earrings, carved exquisite large bracelets, silver collars, but also four silver buttons on the chest and the waist tied on a long silver chain ...... Walking up to the silver glitter, dazzling style.
Achang diet
Achang people to rice as the main food, but also commonly used rice powder made of bait, rice line as the staple food. Bait silk is easy to eat, when eating, you only need to be slightly scalded in boiling water, fished out with condiments can be eaten.
The Achang people like to eat taro, and legend has it that in ancient times, when celebrating the harvest, killing dogs and eating taro were essential. Most of the Achang women can make tofu, bean vermicelli, and peas are often used to make cold noodles for food.
Meat mainly comes from pigs and cows. Pork is used to make fire-roasted raw pork rice noodles, which are made by slaughtering a pig and then using straw or rice straw to burn its skin, scraping it clean, then chopping it and mixing it with vinegar, garlic, chili peppers and other condiments to eat with the rice noodles.
Fish raised in rice paddies is the main source of fish for daily consumption, and when consumed, fresh fish are mostly pan-fried or deep-fried in oil, and then boiled or steamed with water and sour chili peppers to be served. Spicy and sour valley flower fish (fish fry are put into the field when planting rice seedlings, and the fish is taken after the grain is cooked, called valley flower fish) is the most distinctive. Pickled salted vegetables, marinated rot, edamame are always necessary, every meal no less.
Wine is the drink of the Bai people all year round. Women often drink sweet wine made of glutinous rice, which has a strong fragrance and sweet flavor; adults and the elderly drink white wine. Nowadays, most Achang people have been able to make shochu by distillation.
Achang Architecture
The houses of the Achang people in mountainous areas or dam areas are all built in the style of triple or quadruple courtyards, with most of them in the form of three-in-one walls. Wood is the main material used by Achang people to build their houses. Although the wooden frames of the past have been changed to the reinforced concrete frames of today, the inner walls of the houses are still made of wood. Almost all Achang families like to carve various patterns on the inner wall.
Achang Customs
The Achang forbid killing livestock and hurting animals on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar; women who give birth to a child before the seventh day of the month are forbidden to let the men of other families enter the courtyard.
It is forbidden to put sundry things in the house and to put knives and guns in the house. The Achang people attach great importance to the fire pit, burning incense on New Year's Day and pounding New Year's Day poop to worship the fire pit first. The pots and pans on the fire pit or the tripod or the firewood, avoid stepping or sitting on it, avoid spitting to the fire pit, and cannot cross over the fire pit. The threshold of Achang people's home is mostly square wood, avoid standing, avoid sitting, avoid cutting with a knife, its concept of the threshold on behalf of the good and bad wind and the prosperity of the family way people.
Achang bedroom distribution in the main hall on both sides, the old man on the left, the other on the right. Male elders are not allowed to enter the bedrooms of married elders. Unmarried men can live in compartments or compartments upstairs. Women are not allowed to live upstairs; men are downstairs and women are not allowed to go upstairs. Women are not allowed to step on agricultural tools.
Achang Religion
The people in the Achang area generally believe in Southern Buddhism and Taoism, and they worship plants and animals, gods, ghosts, etc., with strong religious colors.
Southern Buddhism Achang people also generally believe in Southern Buddhism, they mainly live in Yunnan Longchuan, Lianghe and Luxi County and other places. Due to the long-term intermingling with the Dai, Han and other ethnic groups, culturally influenced by the Dai and Han and other ethnic groups, belief in Southern Buddhism. They mainly believe in the three sects of Southern Buddhism, namely, "Man" (Pangzhuang), "Yong" (Pangyun) and Duo Lei. The Duo Lei sect has fewer believers because of its strict rules and the fact that it does not kill or eat. The Barbarian religion has many believers due to its strict rules of killing and not eating, while the Brahmin religion has many believers due to its loose rules of killing and not eating. Almost every village of the Achang people have built a Buddhist temple, only Longchuan County in the past there are forty-four Tosha. Walled Buddhist temple architectural style is not the same, some carved dragons and phoenixes, carved exotic flowers and grasses; some of the Department of the five-layer octagonal building, layers stacked up, octagonal upward, unique features, very fine.
Taoism Taoism in the Achang region also has a great influence. About the Ming Dynasty, Taoism was introduced to the Achang region, the Ming general Mu Ying rate of troops into Yunnan, in the present-day Dehong Longchuan Tosha Township east of the famous Taoist temple Huangge Temple, which was gradually turned into the Achang region's most famous Taoist shrine. Huangge Temple had in 1747 (Qing Qianlong twelve years), 1806 (Qing Jiaqing eleven years), 1864 (Qing Tongzhi thirteen years) carried out three large-scale renovation. On the eve of liberation, there were Taoist priests living in the temple, and on the ninth day of the first month of the lunar calendar every year, they presided over the ceremony of worshipping the Jade Emperor, reciting the Jade Emperor's scriptures and drawing talismans and reciting incantations, praying for blessings and avoiding disasters for the people.
Nowadays, there are Guan Di Temple and Chenghuang Temple in Achang area, and every household is dedicated to Zaojun and the God of Wealth, etc.
The Achang people also have the temple of Guan Di and Chenghuang Temple.