The Mourning Bird Kingdom, which emerged in southwestern China's Yunnan Province around 300 BC and died at the end of the first century AD, is a mysterious ancient kingdom. The South Han Book of the Southwest Barbarians, written by Fan Ye during the Southern Dynasty, describes the Mourning Jail as follows: "It had seventy-seven kings, fifty-one thousand eight hundred and ninety households, and a population of fifty-five million three hundred and seventy-one thousand eleven." "The land is fertile and beautiful, suitable for grains, silkworms and mulberry, know dyeing and picking Wenxiu, Lan Gan fine cloth, weaving articles like damask brocade." "There is Tonghua wood. Weaving as cloth, width of five feet, white from dirt." "Produces copper, iron, tin, gold, silver, light beads, glaze, khorne, mussel beads, peacocks, jade, rhinoceros, elephants, orangutans." Eastern Jin Chang Qu, Huayang Guo Zhi. Nanzhong Zhi. Yongchang County" states that "*** the land was 3,000 li in the east and west, and 4,600 li in the north and south." The area included all or most of the present-day Baoshan, Lincang, Simao, Xishuangbanna, Dehong and Nujiang states. The Pu people living in the territory of Yongchang (Mourning Kingdom) later differentiated into the three nationalities of Brown, Wa and De'ang.
From the "Houhan Book. Southwest barbarians biography of the information contained in the view, more than two thousand years ago, living in western Yunnan Brown ancestors "Pu people" have a high standard of living. In recent years, people in the original Aigong country within the boundaries of the discovery of a lot of paleolithic to neolithic cultural sites and objects. At the same time also found a large number of bronze artifacts, such as copper drums, copper axes, copper vis-a-vis, copper swords, as well as copper hoes, copper mirrors, copper boxes, chimes and so on. In the Shuangjiang Brown ancient village - the side of the Pin village area, but also unearthed a copper axe model; two in the Menghu Gonglang Brown village area was unearthed in the copper needle model. After identification, they are relics of the Warring States period. It shows, also in the Warring States period Brown ancestors have smelting bronze ability and technology.
Today's Brown people are mainly distributed in the territory of Yunnan Changning, Fengqing, Yunxian, Jingdong, Shuangjiang, Lancang, Menghai and other four states more than ten counties. The results of the fifth national census, the total population of the Brown people for nine point two million people. Among them, more than 30,000 people in Menghai County, Shuangjiang one more than the rest of the counties are less than 10,000 people.
The Brown people are a good at growing tea. In the long history, tea has been in their lives in an important position. In the Brown and De'ang quenched the myth that people are heavenly tea leaves down to change into. Another story tells that tea was left to his descendants, the Browns, by the King of the Pu Barbarians. Yunnan is the birthplace of tea. Tea has long been a part of the lives of the Brown people. The annual sacrifice of the Brown people is their most primitive religious beliefs.
The chickens, pigs, and slaughter used in the sacrifice prohibit the use of metal knives, and must be struck with a wooden stick to its head to death. It gives us this message: the worship of God arose before the creation of metal tools. The only offerings made to the gods on the altar were tea, rice and wine in earthen bowls. No other items were allowed on the altar. The above tells us that the worship of God at the time, tea has long been into the life of the Brown people.
In history, the Brown people, tea is a gift to friends and relatives and honored guests of the top gifts; tea is a wedding ceremony lack of tokens; tea is honesty, friendliness, love the carrier of deep feelings; tea is the earth to the gods to transmit information to the bridge. Tea is the cleanest and most sacred in the minds of Brown people. Today, people see, Lancang Jingmai acres of ancient tea plantations, Shuangjiang thousand years of ancient tea trees, Banna Tea King is closely related to the Brown people. Brown people also created their own unique tea techniques in history. Such as bamboo tea, sour tea, bamboo honey tea, burnt rice tea, Mingzi tea, loose tea and so on. Tea is the life of the indispensable beverage, but also often into the food, medicine.
The history of "eating new rice" activities, reflecting the Brown people have a long history of farming culture. Every to, autumn, after a year of hard work, rice ripe, grain into the warehouse; Brown people will be busy in every household to organize "eat new rice" activities. First of all, we must welcome the "grain movement" into the home, from the field to pick back a bunch of ears, hanging in the home of the gods. But also from the field to bring back a ball of soil, divided into seven parts, placed in their own granary, called "grain mother".
When the grain is processed into rice, it cannot be milled or ground, or the grain will curse the owner because of the pain. It must be pounded with a mortar and pestle, and when pounding rice, one holds the pestle and stick in one's hand, and one kowtow after another, which is a sign of respect for the grain. "Eating new rice" is a happy day for every family, and is the Brown people's annual celebration. The hospitable Brown people to invite friends and relatives to come together as guests, *** to celebrate the harvest. "Eat new rice" has a set of complicated and serious, solemn ceremony. Zai Gong's chicken, slaughtered before washing chicken head and feet.
Before eating, you have to sacrifice ancestors, sacrifices to the fire pit, but also to the Buddhist temple "water". After eating a bowl of rice, "after rice", this bowl of rice to be placed for several days or even months. Also feed the oxen, sacrificial plow and harrow, watch the chicken gossip. And all of this is in the host and guests extremely relaxed, happy, fun atmosphere. "Eat new rice" and other production activities together, composed of Brown colorful farming culture.
A large number of oral literature and folk songs and dances in various forms make up the colorful literary art of the Brown people. Brown people's folk songs are healthy, diverse forms, often due to regional differences and differences. Therefore, they are colorful. In Shuangjiang, there are popular children's songs, love songs, labor songs, and not ceremonial songs. And all of them are sung in the native language of the people, the main artistic characteristics of the Brown folk songs are shown in: First, short, concise and quick; Second, simple and natural; Third, the lyrics are straightforward and simple; Fourth, the song and dance as a whole, but also songs and dances; Fifth, can be sung solo, chorus, and also men and women alternately lead and follow the singing, to increase the sense of beauty; Sixth, the melody of the slow, quiet. Brown people everywhere have different styles of dance. The most representative is the popular bee bucket drum dance in my county. Bee bucket drum dance is named for its shape like a bee bucket.
The dancer carries a bee bucket drum and hits the drum while dancing. The three-step dance is relatively light and slow, and the five-step dance is very intense and fast. Bee Bucket Drum Dance has beautiful movements and is very attractive. It is equipped with percussion instruments such as elephant foot drum, hairpin, etc.; and divided into male and female teams. The men's team carries the bee bucket drum and dances while knocking; while the women's team holds a towel and dances while flinging. Bee Bucket Drum Dance is a very popular and participatory dance. The dance can be performed by several people, dozens of people or hundreds of people. The Bee Bucket Drum Dance originates from a beautiful legend of the Brown people.
The legend says that a long time ago, mankind suffered a great flood. The bees led the gods to a mountain and found a pair of surviving siblings, so that the human race has been able to reproduce to this day. The gods told humans to make beehives for the bees to live in. This inspired the Bee Bucket Drum. The Beehive Drum is undoubtedly the oldest percussion instrument of the Brown people. The elephant foot drum, hairpin, and so on, were added after they accepted the Southern Theravada Buddhism.