[Religious customs]
The Miao used to believe in the spirit of everything, worship nature and worship ancestors. "Drum Festival" is the largest festival of the Miao folk. Generally, it is a small festival for seven years and a big festival for thirteen years. In the lunar calendar from October to November of the B Ohio Day, when to kill a bullock cattle, jumping Lusheng dance, sacrifices to see the ancestors. Food time to invite friends and relatives *** get together, in order to enhance the relationship, family harmony.
The main beliefs of the Miao people are nature worship, totem worship, ancestor worship and other primitive forms of religion, the Miao traditional society superstitious ghosts and gods, prevalent witchcraft. There are also some Hmong who believe in Christianity and Catholicism. Very few Miao believe in Buddhism and Taoism.
Traditionally, the Hmong people have a number of giant or odd-shaped natural objects, often considered to be a spiritual manifestation, and therefore worship them, wine and meat offerings. Typical natural objects of worship include boulders, caves, trees and forests. In addition, the Miao believe that some natural phenomena or natural objects have a divine or ghostly nature, and the Miao language often does not distinguish between ghosts and gods, or the two words are used together. In most cases, ghosts are considered to be abandoned or aggrieved souls and tools transformed, often bringing disasters, sickness, plague or other misfortunes to humans, such as the so-called Eastern ghosts, Western ghosts, sow ghosts, hanged ghosts, tiger ghosts, and so on, which are known as evil ghosts. And natural phenomena with spirituality are often considered good ghosts, with a certain degree of divinity, such as the god of mountain, the soul of grain, the god of cotton, the god of wind, the god of thunder, the god of rain, the god of the sun, the god of the moon, and so on. For good ghosts and bad ghosts, the Miao people's sacrificial methods are also different. The good ghosts are sent and welcomed, and the sacrifices are more sincere, while the evil ghosts must be bribed and cajoled until they are driven away.
In many areas, the Miao people also believe that there are many monsters in nature. For example, cows cover themselves with feces in their stalls or spin around in their stalls, stamping feces into circles, pigs eat piglets or lie down in their troughs, ducks eat duck eggs, tigers go into the fields, two snakes cross their tails, and hens make the chirping sound of roosters, etc. All of which are considered to be the corresponding evil spirits.
In some Hmong areas, the cult of man-made objects are land Bodhisattva, the land milk, the family god, sacrificial bridge, wells and so on. Land Bodhisattva Miao called land ghosts, generally by a few stone base, land house is mostly wooden or with three slate built, extremely simple, set in the village next to the intersection or the roadside pedestrian resting place. The belief in the family god exists in some of the Miao in the Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan dialect, that is, the "family god" idol is set up at home. The bridge festival is popular in most parts of Southeast Guizhou. Dragons are also worshipped and sacrificed to by the Miao in various parts of the country.
Totem worship. Many of the eastern region of the Miao and Yao *** with the worship of Discus (a kind of sacred dog). They have been told the story of "the mother of God, the father of the dog" for generations, and regarded Discus as their ancestor. Some Hmong in the central region believe that their ancestor, Jiang Yang, originated from the heart of a maple tree, and thus regard the maple tree as their totem. In some other areas, the Hmong worship buffalo and bamboo as their totems.
Universally, ancestor worship occupies a very important place in Miao society. They believe that although their ancestors are dead, their souls are always with their children and grandchildren, and they must make offerings of wine and meat on New Year's festivals, and even honor their ancestors in their daily diets. Many regions hold ancestor worship ceremonies on a regular or irregular basis. In western Hunan, there are "knocking on a stick pig" and "sacrificing an ancestor with a cow", in southeastern Guizhou, there is "eating a bullock", and in Qianzhong, there is "knocking on a barang". In Qiandongnan, there is the custom of "eating bulls", and in Qianzhong, there is the custom of "knocking barangs". Among them, the eating of bullocks in southeast Guizhou is still prevalent and is the most typical. Eating bullu is also known as the Festival of Drum Offering, Drum Society Festival, Drum Zang (bullu) Festival, to clan (drum society) as a unit, held once every seven or thirteen years. They believe that the souls of their ancestors reside in the wooden drums, and the drums are played to summon the souls of their ancestors to enjoy the offerings of their children and grandchildren. The officiating priest is known as the bullock dirty head, and the bullock dirty cattle are specially bred for this purpose. Each festival lasts for three years.
Most Hmong people believe in witchcraft. The main sorcery activities are over the Yin, divination, God referee, ghost sacrifices, in addition to compulsion and so on. Sorcery activities are presided over by sorcerers. Most of the sorcerers are non-professional. They play the role of presiding officers in the various primordial worship and witchcraft activities mentioned above, and in some places, the sorcerers also serve as village elders. In addition to being familiar with the ritual methods, most sorcerers can also tell the genealogy of their branches, the major historical events of their people and the routes of their migratory origins, and are familiar with all kinds of myths and legends, ancient songs, ancient lyrics and folk tales, and some sorcerers also have the functions of singers and dancers. Therefore, sorcerers are important inheritors of traditional Miao culture and play the role of intellectuals in Miao society. In addition, sorcerers also master certain medical skills and know some herbs, which are supplemented by scientific medicine while driving away ghosts for people.
In addition to these traditional beliefs, since modern times, with the Western missionaries deep into China's interior missionary, in the junction of Yunnan-Guizhou-Chuan area, Guizhou Kaili, Hunan Yuanling and other areas of some of the Miao people converted to Christianity, and a few Miao faith in southeast Yunnan Catholicism. Especially in the northeast of Yunnan and northwest of Guizhou, the Christian faith was once strong and influential. Foreign missions or missionaries opened many primary and secondary schools, medical institutions, and even implemented some economic development projects in the Miao areas, which played an indelible role in the progress of the Miao society and the improvement of their political status. Famous pastors include Dang Juren of Anshun, Bak Geli, Zhang Daohui and Wang Shude, the first two of whom died in the Hmong area.
After the establishment of new China, the influence of Christianity and Catholicism declined for a time, and in recent years there has been a certain trend of recovery. However, now that Christianity and Catholicism are practicing the "three selves", there are many differences in social organization, social influence, and even the content of beliefs between Christianity and the pre-1950 Christian faith.
Foreign Hmong, there are a few Hmong in Vietnam and Laos who believe in Catholicism. There are also Hmong in the United States, France and other Western countries who believe in Christianity and Catholicism. The Hmong in Laos and Thailand are also influenced by Buddhist culture. Nevertheless, traditional ancestor worship and the concept of the soul are still largely preserved in their societies.
[Ethnic Calendar]
The Hmong are one of the oldest ethnic groups in China, and one of the earliest settled ethnic groups in China.
In ancient times, Miao culture and technology were very developed, as can be seen generally from the recently excavated Miao ancient calendar. The ancient calendar of the Miao people enriched the calendar system of China and the world.
According to Prof. Chen Jiujin, a famous Chinese astronomer, the Miao have an ancient calendar system. So far, no one else has been able to project and write the ancient calendar of the Miao people, and the author would like to try.
According to the author's testimony: China's Hmong ancient calendar system is a yin and yang calendar, based on the solar calendar.
Miao ancient calendar to the twelve signs of the zodiac record time, day, month, year, a year 365.25 days, the solar calendar year 365 days, leap year 366 days.
Each year is divided into moving month, partial month, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, of which January, March, May, July, August, September, September 5 months for the month long day, the 31st day of the month; moving month, partial month, 2, 4, 6, 8, October and so on, 7 months for the month short day, the 30th day of the month.
The winter solstice is the first day of the year, the first day of the year, the first day of the festival, and the first day of the gas, which belongs to the Chinese calendar "Zi Zheng Ren Tong".
A year is divided into "winter solstice" (Yangdan), "summer solstice" (Yindan) two years, "winter solstice" before the day for the Miao calendar year.
A year is divided into three seasons: the cold season, the warm season and the hot season, and is divided into the first half of the year and the second half of the year, with the cold, warm and hot seasons each taking up two months in each half of the year, and the cold, warm and hot seasons each taking up four months in a year.
The first half of the year from "cold and hot", the second half of the year from "hot and cold", the cycle of years and years and years. 4 years of a leap, the additional value of 1 day, the leap in the month of movement, that is, the first year, the 31st day of the leap month.
The last day of October in the Miao calendar is New Year's Eve (the day before the Winter Solstice). Therefore, there is "the first day of the year do not go out" Miao habit.
In addition to using the twelve Chinese zodiac signs to remember the time, day, month and year, the Miao calendar also uses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and the natural number of phase-assisted record of the time, day, month and year to wish the old man a long life: "I wish you a long life at the age of 120".
Twelve zodiac sources, and the ancient Chinese twelve clans related. With the twelve signs of the zodiac to remember the time, day, month, year, a year divided into 12 months, a day divided into 12 hours, years, months, days, hours fixed, day according to the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, the cycle of use. The system is based on "Jian" as the first day, fixed cycle of use.
The twenty-seven constellations are related to the nine trigrams of the Miao people.
Miao ancestors also use the corresponding orientation of the house and the zodiac to assist in remembering the time, day, month and year, the day is divided into night, morning, day and nightfall four periods, and the zodiac with the "gate, hall, left house, house, the right house, roof", observing the sunrise and sunset. In the lunar calendar, the period from the full moon to the next full moon is one month, and each month is divided into 27 quarters. In the lunar calendar, there are 358 days in an ordinary year and 387 days in a leap year. The moving and partial moons are short days; January through October are long days. The longest day of the month is 30 days, the shortest day of the month is 29 days, and the leap month is 29 days. Hmong ancient calendar, whether solar or lunar calendar in the age of the rat, the age of the year, the age of the Shen set leap, every 4 years a leap, leap moving month. Miao ancient calendar embodies the "one into three, trinity" of the Miao generation of philosophical views and "nine trigrams" three-dimensional thinking (i.e., before and after, left and right, up and down, table, or in the middle of the East, South, West, North, Middle, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, Northeast).
The ancestors of the Miao people worshiped the sun, the moon and the stars, and regarded the three lights as the purest of all.
The ancestors of the Miao people believed that the original substance that composed everything in the universe was Lei, Dragon and Kui (meaning water, fire and gas), which was recorded as "three specialties"; the "Five Elements" were, in order, light, gas, water, earth and stone. Yao (also known as Mr. Guigu) to submit to the Yellow Emperor (self-proclaimed son of heaven), the big Kui sister Rayon (Leizu) married to the Yellow Emperor as his wife, Yao in order to curry favor with the Yellow Emperor to change the nine hexagrams for the eight trigrams (Han book that Fuxi system gossip, there is a mistake), to change the one into three (yang, yin, not yang, not yin) for two (yang, yin), to change the three-dimensional thinking for the plane of thinking. Will be ten Ganzhi and twelve zodiac signs combined with the creation of the heavenly stems, earthly branches, sixty Azi (Han book has this record). Changing the 27 lodges into 28 lodges. Will be five elements according to the plane orientation and produced by the gold, water, wood, fire, earth (west, north, east, south, center), and at the same time with the gold, water, wood, fire, earth stars, sun and moon to match the creation of the seven Yao calendar. The Seven Yao Calendar is the earliest surviving calendar in China.
Chinese Miao calendar and the ancient Egyptian calendar with the solar calendar, but 6200 years earlier than the Egyptian calendar more than 3,800 years ago, 365 days per year, 4 years a leap; the difference is that the ancient Egyptian calendar leap year additional day for 6 days, the Miao ancient calendar leap year additional value for 1 day. The ancient Hmong calendar is consistent with the solar return year length of 365.25 days, and the Tengu cycle is 1,460 years old, which is highly accurate.
The ancient Chinese Miao calendar has been a great guide to the ancient Miao people engaged in agricultural production (mainly rice production), and has also been used by the folk to choose good luck. (For details, see Shi Qigui's "Report on the Field Study of the Miao People in Western Hunan").
The time limit for the use of the Chinese Miao calendar is at least 10,000 years, with the lower limit being the 33rd year of the Guangxu reign (1907 AD). According to the Yongsui Zhili Zhi: "Father and son pass on, using rats, cows, tigers and horses to remember the year and month, dark with the calendar." (Qing? Yang Ruizhen wrote, Tongzhi seven years) Qing? Dong Hongxun, Guangxu thirty-three years of lead-printed book "Guzhangping Hall Zhi" also has the same record. According to the collection in the Beijing Museum "Qianlong sixty years of Miao bandits file" in the original folders and arrested Miao leaders of the "offerings" and people involved in the suppression of the uprising of the year compiled by the historical books or local history records: agreed on the date of the uprising of Phoenix, Qianzhou, Yongsui, Songtao four halls of the Qianlong sixty years on the sixth day of February (Lunar Calendar). According to Wu Tim half of the "confession" in the explanation that this day is the first day of the first month of the Miao year (Miao lunar year), the uprising date set for this day, take the old to the new meaning. Later, due to the leakage of information, the uprising was advanced to the 18th day of the first month (lunar calendar). This is a major historical event related to the ancient Hmong calendar as recorded in history books.
China's ancient Hmong calendar and the United Nations announced the "future calendar program" (see the second issue of the "data card" in 1988 "the future of the calendar", sponsored by the Inner Mongolia branch of the Xinhua News Agency) has a different and the same wonderful combination. Miao ancient calendar than the current Gregorian calendar, the number of days per month of the lunar calendar, and intercalary law is simple, easy to grasp and use.
Chinese Miao ancient calendar system shows that the twelve signs of the zodiac, the seven Yao calendar and twenty-seven, twenty-eight constellations are produced in China, after the introduction of Babylon, India and other countries. From this, we can see that the Chinese Hmong calendar is the mother of the Chinese calendar and the mother of the world calendar.
The Hmong calendar's months and seasons are shown in the following table:
The Hmong calendar's twelve months and twenty-four seasons table Months
Sign of the Zodiac Constructive system Season Season Season Moving month
Rat Zi winter solstice, small cold cold Cold Season migrant month
Niu U 丑 big cold, the beginning of spring Cold Season January
Tiger Tor Tor Tor rain, hibernation Warm Season February
Rabbit Mao spring equinox, Chingming Warm Season March
Rabbit U spring equinox, Ching Ming warm season. p>
Pig Hai Xiaoxue, Daxue Cold Season
[Ethnic Festivals]
The Miao is an ethnic group rich in ancient civilization and rituals, with unique and distinctive festivals at all times of the year. Miao traditional festivals are divided into functional meaning: ⒈ agricultural activities festivals; Pake material exchange festivals; 3 men and women to socialize, love, choose a spouse festivals;⒋ ritual festivals; careful commemorative, celebratory festivals. According to the chronological order, there are twelve months in a year, and each month has more than one festival. In the moving month (Rat or Zi month), 1-15 days (from the first Zi day to the second C day) is the festival of playing New Year, in which the first Zi day is the festival of heavenly age, the Miao people don't go out (far away from home); the first ugly day is the festival of earthly age, during the period of the first ugly day to the second ugly day (from 2-14 days), the people have to go to visit their relatives and friends, to congratulate each other for the new year, men and women singing songs to each other, playing with dragon lanterns and lions, etc.; the second C day is the festival of the second year. The second Yin day (15th) is the year of the tail (burning dragon lanterns). The first ugly day of the partial month (ox month or ugly month) is the Social Day, also known as the Dragon Head Festival, in which the Miao people offer sacrifices to the God of the Land, catching dragons, and Anlong (dyeing rong in Miao). the first c day of January (tiger month or c month) is the festival of material exchanges and socializing between men and women (known as the March 3 Street Festival in Chinese). the first unday of February (rabbit month or month) is the festival of the King of the Ox (known as the 8th day of the 4th month in Chinese), and the festival of socializing between men and women is Cherry Club, and Buddha's Birthday. the first e day and second e day of March (dragon month or month) is the Festival of the Dragon, and the first e day of the Dragon is the Festival of the Dragon. The first e day and the second c day of March (Dragon month) are respectively the Little Dragon Boat Festival and the Big Dragon Boat Festival, of which the Little Dragon Boat Festival was later called Qu Yuan Festival and Song Shi Festival in honor of the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan (Mi) of the Miao people.The first si day of April (Snake month or Si month) is the Dragon Festival (known as June 6, June Field in Chinese), and the Festival of Eating Salary (Barley Ripening).The first zi day of May (Horse month or Woo month) is the Festival of the Lesser New Year (Summer Solstice, Yin Dan). The first day of the month of May (Horse or Woo) is the Koyasai Festival (Summer Solstice, Yin Day). Tsuka a noon day for the Seven Charms Festival (Miao said seven sisters, that is, the seven stars of the Big Dipper). June (sheep month or not) of the second c day for the Duck Festival, the second e day for the Autumn Catch Festival. July (Monkey month or Shen month) of the first shen day for the Festival of Wine (glutinous rice harvesting to brew sweet wine, rice wine). august (chicken or You month) for the Festival of Sacrifices (the main vertebrate cattle, eating pigs, jumping incense, return Nuo wish, Anlong and other ancestor and soul sacrificing activities). september (dog month or Hundred Days) for the festival of hunting. month or Hundred Days) Hunting Festival, choose a day to sacrifice the three gods of Meishan, began hunting. October (pig month or Ohio month) dd, noon for eating pigs in the soup festival (kill the New Year's pig), Zaoshen Festival (Zaoshen Festival), New Year's Eve (New Year's Eve, the Han Chinese said the Hmong people in October for the New Year).
[Diet]
The Miao people in most areas eat three meals a day, with rice as the main food. Deep-fried food is most common in the form of deep-fried poi. If you add some fresh meat and pickled vegetables as filling, the flavor is more delicious. Meat mostly from livestock, poultry raising, Sichuan, Yunnan and other places of the Miao people like to eat dog meat, there are "Miao dog, Yi wine," said. Miao cooking oil in addition to animal oil, mostly tea oil and vegetable oil. Chili pepper is the main condiment, and some regions even have the saying that "no spicy dishes". Miao dishes are varied, common vegetables are beans, melons and greens, radish, most of the Miao are good at making soybean products. Hmong people everywhere generally like to eat sour dishes, sour soup is a must for every family. Sour soup is made from rice soup or tofu water, which is put into tile jars and fermented for 3-5 days before it is used to cook meat, fish and vegetables. The preservation of food among the Hmong people is commonly done by the pickling method, where vegetables, chicken, duck, fish, and meat are preferred to be pickled into sour flavors. Almost every Miao family has a pickled food jar, collectively known as the sour altar. The Miao people have a long history of brewing wine, from the making, fermentation, distillation, blending, cellar have a complete set of technology. Oil tea is the most common daily drink. The Miao people in western Hunan also have a special kind of Wanhua tea. Sour soup is also a common drink. Typical foodstuffs include: blood dunking soup, chili bone, turtle and phoenix soup of Miao township, sheep cabbage, worm tea, ten thousand flowers tea, pounded fish, sour soup fish and so on.
[Wedding and Funeral Customs]
A food that is also essential in the process of marriage between young men and women is glutinous rice. Miao people in Chengbu, Hunan province, painted with mandarin ducks of glutinous rice poi as a token to give each other; held a wedding, the bride and groom to drink the cup of wine, the bridegroom also invited the bride and groom to eat painted with dragons and phoenixes and bong dolls pattern of glutinous rice poi.
[Costume features]
If the dressed Miao girls get together, it will become a beautiful silver world. Like to wear silver jewelry is the nature of the Miao girls, they pull hair in a bun on top of the head, wearing about 20 centimeters high, beautifully made silver flower crowns, flower crowns inserted in front of the 6 uneven height of the silver wings, most of which are made of two dragons playing with the beads pattern. In some areas, in addition to inserting silver pieces of silver crown, but also inserted about 1 meter high silver bullhorn, the tip of the horn Department of colorful floats, more noble and magnificent. Silver crown along the lower edge of the circle hanging silver flower belt, hanging a row of small silver flower pendant, wearing a silver collar on the neck has several layers, more than a silver piece of beaten flowers and small silver ring even set and become. Chest wearing silver locks and silver pressure collar, chest, back wearing a silver cloak, hanging many small silver bells. The earrings and bracelets are all silver. Only the two sleeves show embroidery in a fiery red color, but the cuffs are also inlaid with a wider circle of silver ornaments. Miao girls often have several kilograms of dress, some of which have been inherited for several generations. Known as "flower clothes and silver Sai Tianxian" beauty. Miao silver craft, ornate and elaborate, ingenious, fully displaying the wisdom and talent of the Miao people. Miao girl's skirt called pleated skirt, but in fact a skirt on the pleats have more than 5,000, and the number of layers, some as many as thirty, forty layers. These skirts from weaving cloth to bleaching and dyeing sewing, all the way to the final drawing embroidery, are the girls themselves to complete independently, plus hand-embroidered flower belt, flower chest pocket, really colorful, beautiful.
More than half of the Miao live in Guizhou, and the rest are distributed in Hunan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan and other places. Miao people's food is mainly rice, supplemented by miscellaneous grains such as bulgur, millet, sorghum, wheat and potatoes. The Miao people are most fond of glutinous rice. The side dishes are mainly melons, beans, vegetables and chili peppers, green onions and garlic used as condiments. Meat includes pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks and fish.
The Miao people's tastes are mainly sour and spicy, and they are especially fond of chili peppers. Daily dishes are mainly sour and spicy soup dishes. Sauerkraut is fresh and delicious, easy to make, can be eaten raw, can also be cooked. Usually eat fresh vegetables or beans, Miao family also mixed with some pickles or sour soup. People increase appetite. In addition, the Miao family's fish cooked in sour soup is a flavorful dish, the practice of sour soup with water, salt boiling, take fresh fish to remove the bitter bile, into the sour soup cooked into this dish, this dish is tender and fresh soup, fragrant and delicious, can be done throughout the year.
The Miao family can process and preserve smoked bacon, cured meat, cured fish, dried fish, sausages and so on. Among them, pickled fish is a traditional delicacy of the Miao people. The method is to cut open the fresh fish, gutted, smeared with salt, chili powder, put on the fire above the roasting to half dry, and then people altar sealed. When eating, take out and steam. This fish has a crisp bone, moderately salty and spicy, fragrant and delicious characteristics.
The Miao people also like to make tofu, tempeh, processing pig enema, blood tofu. Love to eat hot pot. Miao men and women love wine, and most families can make their own wine. They make their own wine indica and brew aromatic sweet wine, bubbling wine, soaking wine, cellar wine and so on with native glutinous rice, bulgur, sorghum and so on.