Yi Overview
Yi Taboos
Liangshan Yi area taboo seventeen years of age or older women on the stairs, such as violation, the family to hold a "Xiaotian" mantra, to drive away the obscenity and inauspicious; taboos outsiders, older brother, father, uncle, uncles, brothers and sisters, daughters-in-law to the right side of the Potzhuang stone bounded by the master of the position of "Nimude". "Nimrod". In the past, if there was a violation, the daughter-in-law returned to her mother's family, and the mother's family had to return the bride price and compensate for the loss of gift money; the father, brother, uncle, etc. had to drink wine to the host to make amends. After the completion of the new house to move in, taboo male hosts walk in front, otherwise unfavorable to the development of the family. Yunnan Weishan Yi District is prohibited in the home whistling, singing songs, foul language; prohibited to bring sticks, ropes, knives and guns and other machinery into the hall and kitchen.
Home site selection Yi home site selection by the mountains and water, soil and grass beauty. After choosing the site, they need to divine the house, and the Liangshan Yi people have a method of divining the house, such as egg-rolling, rice-raising, and burning the sheep's scapula. Egg rolling is to take an egg and put it on the base of the house and roll it, and then set up three stones to support a pot to cook the egg, and after it is cooked, peel off the egg shell to see if the egg nest is positive or biased, and it is positively auspicious and can be built, and biasedly vicious, and then choose another site. Standing rice, hold five rice with your hand, and then the rice grain by grain according to the southeast, northwest and north central direction erected in the soil, take the bowl buckle, the next day, such as the discovery of rice grains lost, dumping and other phenomena for the inauspicious, and choose another site. Burning sheep scapula, need to ask the sorcerer to perform this art, that is, put the fire grass on the sheep scapula burning Bi, look at the scapula burned out of the cracks on the set of auspicious and inauspicious, four sides of the open lines on the auspicious, a word lines for the flat, cross lines for the inauspicious. These are with superstitious colors are gradually eliminated. Site selection of the back door of the general direction of the door toward the east, toward the bottom of the slope. Avoid the door toward the bald mountain open; prohibited room behind the water, otherwise prone to flash floods, endangering the house.
Village characteristics of Liangshan Yi production is farming and animal husbandry type, history, due to the Yi people are often subject to the intrusion of other ethnic groups and internal frequent grievances and armed struggle, so most of the residential villages to choose in the terrain of the mountains or slopes, or close to the river valley of the sunny slopes, so that there is a risk can be defended, there is a road can be walked and can be a far-sighted, before the residence of terraced fields, the residence of pasture, which is an ideal place of residence of the Yi people. Generally speaking, the high mountain areas are more scattered, and the flat dam and river valley areas are more concentrated.
Marriage of the Yi People
Before 1949, due to the distribution of the Yi people in different regions and clans, the differences in social and economic patterns around the world, reflected in the marriage system of the region is also prominent. The specific manifestations are as follows:
(a) Monogamy.
In the Yi society, monogamy, which is compatible with the patriarchal small family, is the dominant form of marriage. In the past, Liangshan, in addition to sip West and part of the children of the Aga, the general men and women in childhood or early childhood, by the father on behalf of the choice of a match, matchmaking, divination and marriage, the recruitment of the engagement. After a certain period of time, the wedding. After the marriage, except for the youngest son, are separated from their parents, set up another door, and form a small monogamous family. If the man is still young after the marriage, the bride will return to her mother's home to live, until her husband comes of age and then establish a family. As for the Aga and Gluttony West, by the master of the match, or with the consent of the master of the marriage, still take the form of monogamy. In the past part of the noble rulers and the rich also have polygamy, generally married wives are living in different places, the wives of the first wife in the family has a higher status, but no management and domination of other wives of the power. But when you remarry, you must obtain the consent of the first wife in advance, and make wine and cattle feasts to invite friends and relatives of the mother's family to make amends before you can do so, or else you may incur embarrassment, causing grievances and armed struggle.
The Yi people of the Liangshan Mountains in Sichuan and Yunnan practiced "endogamy", "endogamy of rank", "exogamy of family branches", "transfer of rooms", "transfer of family members", "transfer of family members", "transfer of family members", and "transfer of family members". The Yi people practiced "endogamy", "endogamy of rank", "exogamy of family branch", "transfer of house system", "non-marriage of aunts and tables", and "marriage of aunts and uncles". "Intra-ethnic marriage" means that both spouses must be of the Yi ethnic group, and marriage with other ethnic groups is forbidden; if it is contrary to this, it will be punished by death or expulsion from the family according to the customary law. "Marriage within the rank", "that is, the Black Yi must be married to the Black Yi, it is strictly forbidden for Black Yi men and women to have marriages with men and women of other ranks, such as Black Yi women and men of other ranks have relationships, both sides shall be executed; such as Black Yi men and women of other ranks have relationships, the men shall be expelled from the family branch or be executed, and the women shall be executed. If a Black Yi man has a relationship with a woman of another rank, the man will be expelled from the family branch or executed, and the woman will be executed. The "marriage outside the family branch" stipulates that intermarriage within the same family branch is strictly prohibited, and spouses must be chosen from outside the family branch; if a relationship between the sexes occurs within the same family branch, it is regarded as incest, and both parties will be executed according to customary law. The "transfer system" means that after the death of her husband, a married woman who is still of childbearing age must be transferred to another man in her husband's close family. The order of transfer is, first of all, to the next of kin, and if there is no suitable candidate among the next of kin, then to the next of kin or to the eldest of kin. There is no restriction on the transfer except that it cannot be made to a biological son and an aunt-cousin marriage cannot be made to a father-in-law. "Aunt-cousin marriage", that is, it is strictly forbidden to marry aunt-cousin brother and sister, aunt-cousin brother and sister seems to be the same as brother and sister, neither marriage, nor extramarital sexual relations, otherwise it will be regarded as incest, according to the customary law to be put to death. "Aunt table priority marriage", that is, aunt cousins have the right to priority marriage, customary law, aunt's daughter was born is uncle's daughter-in-law, aunt's daughter first to seek uncle's family NaJia, uncle's family do not want to be able to not married, and the bride price to be sent to the uncle's family, and vice versa, the daughter of the uncle's side of the family also has the above obligations.
The feudal marriage system of the Yi in Yunnan, Guizhou and Gui, in which marriages are arranged by the parents, and the parents agree to take the eight characters, the man's family has to send the bride price to the woman's family, and the wedding date has to be chosen on an auspicious day.
(2) yunnan yongsheng county, yongsheng yi dyadic marriage and group marriage system of this marriage system of marriage and divorce is very free, some women even lifelong unmarried not married, rely on from time to time on the door of the male partner night cohabitation, and its children for the home. In particular, women are free to have sex before marriage and usually go to live in the public house, commonly known as the "hut", when they become adults, and often live there for several years, so the bride is allowed to marry with her children under customary law.
(3) Yunnan Mile "A fine" Yi free love this branch of the Yi have for unmarried young men and women to socialize in the "leisure room" or "public room", the marriage is not arranged by parents, no bride price, when the daughter will be the man's bride price, the daughter will be the man's bride price. The marriage is not arranged by the parents, no bride price is needed, and the son-in-law is not known until the daughter brings the man home.
After 1949, the socialist marriage law was universally implemented in the Yi region, and the marriage system that did not conform to socialism was abolished.
Language and Words of the Yi People
The crafts of the Yi people mainly include colored lacquer painting, embroidery, appliqué and casting. Lacquer painting is mainly applied to bowls, plates, pots, cups, armor, wrist guards, shields, quivers, saddles, bridle heads, moon zithers, mouth strings, etc., with black, red and yellow colors. Embroidery and appliqué, for the Yi women are good at, often embroidered (or paste) in the erwa, headgear, sleeves, collars, lapels, trouser legs, lanyards, cigarette packets, waistbands and so on. Most of the black background with embroidery (paste) red, yellow, green, blue and other very high purity flower line. Painted lacquer, embroidery, appliquéd lace patterns have the sun, moon, rainbow, clouds and other celestial phenomena as a picture; there are water ripples, mountain shapes, such as mountains and rivers as a picture of natural geography; there are chicken crowns, cow's eyes, cow and sheep horns, pig's teeth and other animals as a picture of a part; there are flowers, leaves, twigs and other plants as a picture of a part of a picture and a rope pattern, braid pattern, square shaped as a picture of a rope pattern, a braid pattern, and so on. Various patterns are closely linked with real life, colorful and rich in national and local colors.
Yi Dance
The folk songs and dances of the Yi people can be summarized as follows:
The "Playing Songs": Including "Playing Jumping", "Jumping Feet", "Left Foot Dance", "Jumping Dance", "Jumping Dance", "Jumping Dance", "Jumping Dance" and "Jumping Dance". The Circle Dance is popular among the Yi and other neighboring ethnic minorities in the border area between western Yunnan Province and Liangshan in Sichuan Province, and in the southwestern part of Yunnan Province. The self-indulgent dance "Playing Song" is very similar to the ancient "Treading Song" of the Han Chinese
At present, it is found in Weishan County, Yunnan Province. The local dance is recorded in the "Tapping Song" picture, which is now in the Wenchang Pavilion at Weibaoshan Mountain in Weishan County, Yunnan Province, and was painted during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. During festivals and celebrations, people hold hands in a circle and dance or sing along with the music, and the dance always focuses on the lower limbs.
Jumping Strings: Because the dancers hold "cigarette boxes" in both hands and dance while knocking, the dance is also called the "Cigarette Box Dance". The Cigarette Box Dance is popular in the areas inhabited by the Nisu people, a branch of the Yi ethnic group, in the central and southern parts of Yunnan Province, such as Honghe, Shiping and Jianshui. The dance is categorized into two types: "Chordal" and "Miscellaneous Chordal". The "Chord" is a combination of self-indulgent dance and performative dance, with the main traditional pieces such as "Mute Chopping Chai" and "Pigeon Doodle", etc. The dances are graceful and light, lively and interesting. The "Miscellaneous Strings" is further developed on the basis of the "Orthodox Strings", which is a kind of song and dance sketches that express characters and have a storyline. Among them, there are more than a hundred representative programs such as "Mute Fish" and "Children Worshiping Goddess of Mercy". The local saying, "If you don't dance the string, you'll live for decades in vain," shows the importance of "dancing the string" in people's lives and hearts.
Luozuo: also known as Luozuo, is another kind of circle dance popular among the Nisu people of the Yi tribe on the south bank of the Honghe River in Yunnan Province. The tune is cheerful and jumpy, with a distinctive and strong rhythm, accompanied by rapid hand-waving, staggered steps, foot-stepping and other dance movements, which is especially loved by the youth.
"Jumping Sanxian": also known as "Big Sanxian" and "Jumping Moon", it is a self-indulgent dance favored by Yi tribesmen and Sani people in the central area of Yunnan Province. Accompanied by large, medium and small sanxian and bamboo flutes of different tones, "Jumping Sanxian" is an indispensable dance for the "Torch Festival".
The Felt Dance: This is a dance form unique to the Yi ethnic group in the Liangshan region of Sichuan Province. The dancers use the felt as props and imitate the posture of eagles and bears by stretching, closing and swinging their arms and rotating their bodies. The dance has now become the representative performance dance of the Yi people.
The above five types of Yi folk dances, such as eliminating the modification of traditional folk dances made by people in the past half-century, restored to its original nature, we can clearly see the ancient times of the Yi people simulating the animal's mood, to see the primitive and ancient dance reflecting people's labor life. The first four types of dances originated from the ancient life of the Yi people, and the fifth type of dance imitating eagles and bears may be closely related to the ancient multi-gods and totems of the Yi people
Shun worship. These animal-mimicking dances, with their beautiful and elegant movements, were gradually separated from the sacrificial rituals in the course of long history, and the aesthetic sense of each era was constantly added to them, making them the performance dances exclusively for people's enjoyment today.
During the celebration of the annual festival of the Yi people, we can also see the dance forms of "Bamboo Horse" and "Stilts", which originated from the culture of the Central Plains. The modern Yi "Stilts" retains and develops its acrobatic characteristics, far surpassing the Han "Stilts" in height, but fails to embrace the dance techniques of the Han "Stilts".
When the Yi people hold ceremonies to worship their ancestors and pray for a good harvest, we can also see the Wooden Drum Dance, the Copper Drum Dance and the Sheepskin Drum Dance. These dances are performed by shamans "Bimo" and "Suye", who, while beating the drums, rapidly swing their shoulders, chests and hips as the main dance vocabulary. In addition, in the dance of "Jumping Palace" and "Jumping Ki A" performed in the "Jumping Palace Festival", traces of ancient hunting and inter-tribal wars, as well as the rituals and dance scenes of warriors' campaigns, battles and triumphs are still preserved to express the remembrance and glorification of the ancient heroes. This kind of dance in which people hold instruments is roughly the same as the Qiang's Armor Dance in terms of expression.
The famous dances "Red Felt", "A fine jumping moon" and "Happy Nuosu" have been processed and put on the stage. With jumping and joyful melody expresses the vibrant life of the Yi people and become famous in the art world.
Diet of the Yi People
The Yi people have a wide geographical distribution, and because of the differences in geology, climate and rainfall in different areas, the types of crops and yields differ from each other. As a result, the diet of the Yi people in different regions is diversified.
1. Staple foods. Corn, taro, buckwheat-based, in addition to oats, barley, wheat, beans, part of the dam area mainly eat rice. Food generally made into a variety of buns and other food, sometimes also boiled or fried food. Liangshan Yi buckwheat kneaded into a cake, into the boiling water to cook; taro like cooking or burning food; oats fried and ground into flour for food; rice steamed in a retort.
2. side dishes. Vegetables include turnips, Yuan root, cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, kale, leeks, ferns, green onions, ginger and so on. There are boiled, fried, stewed, pickled and other different ways of eating. Meat is mainly consumed as beef, mutton, pork and chicken. Eating method to boiled and pickled more common. The flavorful ones are the steelyard weight meat of Liangshan Yi and the raw meat and liver of Samui Yi. The way to make emery meat is to choose about 30 pounds of mountain piglets, remove the hair and internal organs, wash and cut into fist-sized pieces, boiled in a pot, that is, fished out, mixed with salt, peppercorns and other condiments to eat. Raw meat and liver is made by burning the skin of the pig's feet and cutting it into shreds, chopping the liver and adding soy sauce, vinegar, scallions and chili peppers to eat.
3. Liquor. The Yi people love to drink liquor, generally to sorghum, corn, buckwheat and other grains brewed from different production methods or drinking methods and called "altan wine", "turn wine", soaking wine, wine, water wine, water wine, rice wine and so on. Altar wine is brewed in the altar, when drinking, peel off the altar mouth sealing mud, add cold boiled water, wait for a few hours and then insert a bow-shaped bamboo pipe or wooden pipe to drink, can also be used for a number of people to drink at the same time. Turning wine is a way of drinking for the Liangshan Yi people. Groups of men and women sit on the ground, a bowl of white wine from right to left in order to pass and drink, each sip to the left thumb across the edge of the bowl as a gift. Bubble water wine is brewed in wooden barrels, drink from the barrels in the water, wine from the bottom of the barrels out of small holes, while drinking water, you can drink for several days.
4. Tea. Yunnan, Guizhou Yi people used to drink tea, they also grow tea. Yunnan Wuliangshan, Mourning Mountains, Lancang River, the black Huizhou River along the soil acidic, moist and foggy, conducive to the growth of tea, produced by the green tea, quite show show hair, tightly knotted, fragrant and mellow, with a long aftertaste. Green tea as early as in the Tang Dynasty, there are planted, "Barbarian Book" records: "tea out of the silver world of the mountains, Mengshe barbarians to pepper, ginger and cinnamon decoction."
5. Tobacco. Liangshan Yi prefer to smoke orchid smoke, generally use the house side of the more fertile small piece of land planted in February under the seed, May sub-seedling, harvested in July, and then dry the tobacco stacked Qi, with the mountain grass tied into a small handle spare. When smoking, the tobacco leaves are placed in the palm, rubbed into fine powder, and loaded into the pipe. The Yi people in Yunnan and Guizhou prefer to smoke leaf tobacco.
6. Food utensils. Liangshan Yi food utensils mostly for the forest system and leather lacquer ware, unique shape, beautiful and durable, with black as the background color, red, yellow and other colors depicted on a variety of patterns. Commonly used are wooden plates, wooden bowls, wooden spoons, wooden helmets, wooden bowls, leather bowls, meat trays, lunch boxes and so on. Wooden plate has a high foot and low foot two kinds of wooden bowl for the convergence of the mouth, with a cover, bulging belly, by the cover and the body into the mother of the child buckle together, wooden plate and wooden bowl for the rice with. Wooden spoon for scooping soup, rice, spoon part oval, spoon handle long and thin, commonly known as "horse spoon", food slightly move the handle, the spoon does not stick lips, soup and rice that is in the mouth, both hygienic and practical. Leather bowl lightweight and durable, stir buckwheat noodles, poop and other cold food.
7. Wine. Wine cups have eagle's claw cups, cow horn cups, goat horn cups, goose claw cups, pig's hooves cups, wooden wine cups, leather wine cups, etc.; jugs have round pots, flat round pots, pigeon shaped pots, etc.. The pot is divided into head, belly, foot three parts, the bottom of the foot center has a small bamboo tube for the mouth of the wine, wine is filled with the pot to put the right, but the wine does not flow out. The upper end of the abdomen is inserted diagonally next to a thin bamboo tube for the mouth of the suction. The shape is beautiful and unique. The material used for the wine is made of wood, lacquer, silver, horn and leather, etc.
The wine is made of wood, lacquer, silver, horn and leather.
Festivals of the Yi People
The traditional festivals of the Yi people are very rich, and according to the nature of the festivals, they can be divided into five categories: productive festivals, social and recreational festivals, commemorative festivals, celebratory festivals, and sacrificial festivals. And each category includes 5-10 festivals. Such as the development and promotion of production for the purpose of productive festivals are Sheep Shearing Festival (popular in Daliangshan, generally mid-June of the lunar calendar), Medicine Picking Festival (popular in Yunnan Xiaoliangshan, the first day of May every year on the lunar calendar, mainly picking and selling medicinal herbs), Heijing Lantern Festival (popular in the area of Heijing in Muding County, Yunnan, the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar every year, mainly praying for more production of salt), the Year of the Sheep (Muding in Yunnan every year on New Year's Eve and the first day of the lunar calendar to give the sheep to eat New Year's rice, sticking couplets), and the Year of the Sheep (Muding every year on New Year's Eve and the first day of the lunar calendar to give the sheep to eat (the New Year's Eve and the first day of the lunar month, mainly to pray for more salt production), the Year of the Sheep (Muding, Yunnan, every year on the evening of New Year's Eve and the first day of the lunar month to the sheep to eat rice, sticking couplets), the Bawu Festival (popular in the eastern and western mountainous areas of Heqing County in Yunnan Province, the first fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar month every year, mainly to celebrate and pray for a good harvest), the Festival of the Sung Niu (the northwestern mountainous areas of Yunnan Province, the Yi people every year in the winter), the Festival of the Lama (the Lama Yi language for the God of the bulls, the Yi subfamily of the Black Dialect people's traditional festivals, held every year in the seventh month of the seventh day of the lunar month), and the Festival of the Protector of the Mountain (popular in the Yi people of Longlin, Guangxi, held every year on the third and fourth day of March). (popular among the Longlin Yi in Guangxi, held on the third and fourth day of the third lunar month every year); and social festivals in the form of songs, dances, amusements and rallies for the purpose of social entertainment are the Song Race (held by the Lalu people of the Jiujiang County Yi subfamily in Yunnan in the second lunar month of every year), the Valentine's Day (held by the Baiyi people of the Napo County Yi subfamily in Guangxi in March of every year, when the lovers send each other gifts), the Girls' Day (held by the girls of the Jinping Yi people in Yunnan in the first rush after the Spring Festival to show their youth and beauty on the streets), and the Girls' Festival (held by the girls of the Jinping Yi people in the first rush after the Spring Festival every year). Girls' Day (the first rushing day after the Spring Festival in Jinping, Yunnan, where girls go to the street to show their youth and beauty), Horse Racing Festival (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in Weining, Guizhou, every year), Race Dress Festival (held on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar in Yongren and other counties in Yunnan, where Yi girls dress up in full costume and compete with each other to see whose dress is more beautiful), Catch the Flower Street (held twice a year on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar and the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar by the Leisure People of the Yi sub-clan on the borders of Eshan, Xinping, and Shuangbai Counties in Yunnan, which is a good opportunity for the young people to talk about love. ), String Meeting Festival (Yunnan Yangbi Yi people on the 29th day of March in the lunar calendar, people gather around the bonfire to dance and sing songs), ride the Qing Festival (Yunnan Qujing City, Bayshui District Yi women's festival. It is held on the first horse day of March in the lunar calendar every year. Women dress up and bring food to gather in the local dense mountain, singing and tasting food, until the bright moon in the sky before they leave), Kaixin Festival (the first market day after the first day of the first month of the Lunar New Year of the Yi ethnic group in Eshan, Yunnan Province, after the festival will be the spring plowing), Worshiping Auntie Festival (the second day of the first month of the year of the Yi ethnic group in the area of Eshan, Yunnan Province, the villages as a unit to invite girls married off within 3-5 years together with their aunties). The festival is held on the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar in Yunnan Province, and the girls who have been married off together with their grandmasters are invited to return to their villages for a reunion) and the festival of bullfighting (held on the first day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar every year by the Yi people in various parts of the country); and then there are the Flower-planting Festival (held on the eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar in Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, in order to commemorate the legendary Miyilu, the heroine who removes the violence and peace of mind for the women), and the Clothing Festival (held on the twenty-eighth day of the third month of the lunar calendar in Santaishan Mountain of Dayaoshan County, Yunnan Province). (held on the 28th day of the 3rd lunar month every year to commemorate Amini, a clever female dressmaker), February 8th (held on the 8th day of the 2nd lunar month every year for 3 days to commemorate Migu, a hero who fought against the strongest enemies), and Muding March Meeting (held on the 24th day of the 3rd lunar month of the Chuxiong Yi ethnic group in Yunnan for 3-5 days to commemorate the legendary victory of subduing the dragon); the festival is held in order to celebrate a good harvest and congratulate the prosperity, peace, happiness, and happiness of human and animal life. The celebratory festivals to celebrate good harvests, prosperity of animals and people, and peace and happiness include the Yi New Year Festival, the Lao Nian Festival, the New Year Tasting Festival, the New Rice Festival, and the Shadubi Festival, etc. Lastly, the sacrificial festivals to worship gods and pray for the avoidance of evils include the Torch Festival, the Mizhi Festival, the Festival of Sacrifice to the Lord, and the Festival of Jumping to the Lord. Among them, the Yi New Year and the Torch Festival are the most common and grandest festivals of the Yi people.
(1) The Year of the Yi
"Ku Shi" in Yi language is a traditional festival of the Yi ethnic group in the Greater and Lesser Liangshan Mountains, which is held on an auspicious day between October and November of the lunar calendar every year. Before the Yi New Year, people played New Year's Eve firewood, prepared New Year's Eve food, and meticulously raised New Year's Eve pigs. New Year's Eve three days, the first day: "point fireworks", early in the morning with curling smoke to notify the ancestral spirit home and future generations **** over the festival; "kill the New Year's Eve pig", the village men, women, children and young people (in addition to the hostess to stay at home) joyfully clustered around the killing of pigs can be! "Ongsergu" slaughtered the New Year's pig door to door, the order of killing the pig to the village of the seniority of the young and old; "Songmu" that is, sacrifice, take part of the pig's liver, pork boiled, by the host of the male end to the fire above the ancestor sacrifice, thereafter, everyone ate New Year's Eve, when the sun goes down, with boiled When the sun goes down, the cooked pork and buckwheat are offered to the ancestors again to pray for a good harvest and peace in the coming year. The next day: children played "Ongsinaguge", young men and women dressed in costumes gathered together, singing and dancing to the harmonica, moon zither and huqin, and engaged in recreational activities such as horse racing, swinging, squatting and jousting. Middle-aged men go to each house in groups to congratulate each other on the New Year, while women stay at home to entertain guests. The third day: "send ancestor", people get up early, hot meals to send ancestral spirit to the ancestral world, and for the ancestral spirit to prepare for the road needs to be wrapped, dry food, but also the oats poured in the animal trough to symbolize the spirit of the ancestral spirit of feeding the horse. When sending the ancestral spirit, the man of the house prays to the ancestral spirit to bless the coming year with peace in the family, a good harvest, and the development of six animals.
(2) Torch Festival
Sichuan, Yunnan Yi generally held a few days before and after the twenty-fourth day of the sixth lunar month, Guizhou Yi in the sixth lunar month around the sixth. Sacrificing to the gods and fields, praying for a good harvest, sending Chong in addition to the evil is an important part of the folklore of the Torch Festival. During the festival, some Yi areas have to kill pigs and slaughter cows in the village to offer sacrifices to the gods, and in some places, every Yi household has to hold chickens in the field to sacrifice the field goddess. On the day of Liangshan Yi Torch Festival, all the people outside have to rush home to have a reunion dinner, kill chickens before the meal to offer ancestors, and after the meal, hold a torchlight ceremony. By the head of the family lit with dry bitter artemisia poles tied into the torch, from the top of the house to light up every corner, the mouth read: burn all the sources of inauspicious, the whole family peace, grains, six animals and other words, and then through the cattle pen, sheep pen, and finally join the village torch festival ranks, to the village village, fields and slopes to play with torches. It is said that torches can exterminate insect pests, and some say that they can drive away disasters and evils. Nowadays, the content of the torch festival is richer, there are bullfighting, wrestling, horseback running, beauty contest, song, dance, archery, grinding child autumn and other recreational activities, and some places are also commercial trade activities.
Yi Clothing
Yi clothing varies from place to place, largely the same as the distribution of dialects, and different dialect areas have different characteristics of clothing. For this reason, there are six types as follows:?
(1) Liangshan-type costumes are mainly popular in the area of the big and small Liangshan Mountains in Sichuan and Yunnan. Men store a lock of hair on the top of the head, known as "Zir", Han called "heavenly bodhisattva", and a few feet long black or dark blue cloth handkerchief wrapped around the head, forehead right or left wrapped into a long, thin cone shape protruding from the outside of the handkerchief, known as "Zi sticker", Han called "Zi sticker", "Zi sticker", "Zi sticker", and "Zi sticker", "Zi sticker". ", known as the "hero knot", wearing black or blue tights, large lapel right overlooking, narrow sleeves. The cuffs and lapels are embedded with several circles of different colors of cloth, or inlaid with thin strips of five-color cotton cloth, longer than the waist. Pants sewn with navy blue cotton, pants to different regions, there are large and small, wide up to 170 cm, walking often the corner of the pants hanging at the waist. Narrower footboards are straightened to fit in. Adult men wear silver wire inlaid earrings or coral and amber earrings in the left ear, beads under the red silk thread spikes. Women wear hemmed or embroidered large-breasted right-over-oblique blouse with collar, cuffs, lapels, and hem edges inlaid with blue, red, and white to-be strips of cloth, or lace woven with colored silk threads in a variety of motifs. The central buttons of the collar are studded with square silver plate flowers, or with small silver studs set all over the collar. Skirt with red, yellow, blue, white and other brightly colored cotton or woolen cloth sewn into three sections, the upper section of the skirt waist, the middle section into a tube, the lower section into a fold, commonly known as the "pleated skirt. Unmarried women wear two small skirt, adult skirt ceremony, called "Shalal", replaced by three skirt, and then entered the marriage period. Young women or those who have been married and have not given birth use green or black cloth folded into a tile-style headgear, pressed with a hair braid. Middle-aged and elderly women wrap their heads with black headkerchiefs or wear ruffled disk hats. They wear silver bracelets and rings on their hands; silver earrings in the shape of lotus flowers and round stars on their ears; triangular purses on their waists with five-colored ribbons; and strings, syringes and roe deer's teeth on their chests. The Yi men and women wear cloaks made of woolen fleece all year round, which are called "Wipe Ear Wah", which can protect them from cold when it is cold, cover them from the sun when they are looking at the eyes, make them rain coats on rainy days, and cover them when they are sleeping. Clothing decorative process called "do flower", roughly: pick flowers, applique, wear flowers, lock flowers, disk flowers, roll flowers, patch flowers, embroidery and so on. The pattern has wave pattern, crown pattern, bull's-eye pattern, star pattern, etc.
(The pattern is the same as the pattern of the other two.) The pattern of the other two.
(2) Southeast Yunnan type costumes are represented by the Sani and A fine Yi costumes. Older men of the Sani Yi like to wear green cloth wrapped around their heads and wide-crotch pants. Young men like to wear short sleeveless coats sewn with linen, embroidered with patterns and edged with blue or other colors of cloth. Women like to wear flower head wraps, older women with red and black colors, young women with a variety of colors. Bao head edge inlaid with silver "Kasma", the top part of the ears decorated with a pair of "colorful butterflies", the back of the hanging a bunch of beads, hanging down to the chest, bright and eye-catching, walking around with a clear and pleasant sound. The tunic is slightly longer than the knee, mostly blue and white, with embroidered flowers on the sleeves, neckline and corners, backed by a piece of black cloth lined with snow-white fine wool skin, with a cloth belt directly affixed to the lapel through the chest, and a piece of black embroidered with colorful patterns around the waist, with blue and black pants, embroidered shoes, and a flowery bag on the shoulder. The attire of the A Thin Yi men is similar to that of the Sani Yi men. Women have two braids of hair wrapped around their heads, and wear colorful head wraps made of "Ludu", a kind of grass that grows on the rocky heads of high mountains. They wear tight-sleeved blue and white or green cloth, with the upper half of the sleeves made of green cloth and the lower half lined with another color of cloth, and the edges of the sleeves are embroidered with floral motifs. The back is draped with colorful cloth and tight pants are worn underneath. They wear bracelets and earrings. Carrying a woven grass basket on her back.
(3) Diannan-type dress men wearing short clothes with lapels, some lapels nailed to long loops or decorated with silver buttons, embroidered on the collar rows of dog-tooth pattern; some like to drape a sheepskin collar coat. Wear wide-crotch pants. Women wearing silver bubble inlaid cocked hat, wearing right-overlapping lapel shirt, overlapping edge and tail hem. Ovee edge pendulum around the back knot, tail pendulum usually tucked between the belt, shaped like a cummerbund, can hold the needle and thread bag and other things, dancing down the tail pendulum, to help dance. Under the big tube pants, waist tie more than ten feet flower waist. Feet wear pointed embroidered shoes. Wearing silver earrings, silver bracelets, silver bells, silver bubbles hanging in front of the lapel, waist, and behind the hips.
(4) Western Yunnan-type dress men wearing black or blue collarless lapel coat, some plus suede lapel coat. Under the wide crotch pants, head wrapped in green cloth, or wear a melon skin hat. Women wore small red tassels, embedded with small silver beads embroidered "fishtail hat", leaving a small braid of hair behind the head. Dressed in a short front and long back of the round-necked lapel coat, coat dark-colored shoulders, waist tie green cloth waist. They wear green or blue pants and boat-shaped embroidered shoes. They like to wear silver flowers, hairpins, pins, earrings, rings, bracelets, three whiskers and other jewelry. Men, women, and children all wear unbuttoned, lapeled sheepskin coats.
(E) Dian medium-sized dress men generally short clothes and long pants. Women wear light-colored short tops, with black shoulders. Underneath, they wore long pants. The chest is worn around the waist. Head wrapped in a green scarf, some areas wear embroidered hats, such as parrot hat, butterfly hat, cherry blossom hat, etc.?
(F) Qianbei type dress in the middle and old men's head wrapped in green, white Pa, wearing a long shirt, wearing a green belt, wearing wide pants under the lantern pants, commonly known as the "eight pants". Young men wear short shirts with lapels and large white belts. Women's heads wrapped in black and white bandana, wearing green and blue blouse, collar, cuffs, lapel, hem are embroidered flowers, under the green, blue, cream, white three sections of the middle skirt, tied white cloth belt, feet embroidered high studs "harrier shoes.
Population and distribution?
Yi population, according to the 1990 national census *** counted 6572133 people, in China's ethnic minorities in the population after the Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Uyghur, ranking fifth. They are mainly found in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and the northwestern part of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In the form of large dispersed and small settlements, they live in a vast area starting from the Dadu River basin in the north and ending at the Yunnan border in the south, from the Wu River in the east to the Lancang River in the west. The main areas of settlement are the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, the Honghe Hani Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Honghe, the Bijie area in Guizhou, and the Liupanshui area in Liupanshui.
Geography?
The Yi mainly live in a land area of more than 500,000 square kilometers between latitude 22-29 and longitude 98-106, on the southeastern fringe of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Kang-Tibet Plateau.
This area, the peaks, deep canyons, majestic terrain, magnificent, Daxue Mountain, Daliang Mountain, Wumeng Mountain, Mourning Mountains, Wuliang Mountain lying within the territory; Jinsha River, Yuanjiang River, the Nanpanjiang River, Yalong River, the Pudu River, the Xixi River, the Meigu River, the Annin River, the Wheeling River, the river circling the valleys; Dianchi Lake, the Erhai Sea, the Caohai Sea, the Qionghai Lake, the Ma Lake, and so on, many small and large lakes scattered in the high plateau. The climate is mild and rainfall is abundant, with a year-round temperature between 10℃ and 20℃ and an annual rainfall of 700 to 1,000 millimeters. Countless hills, mountains, dams, river valleys and lakes contain metal ores such as iron, copper, zinc, aluminum, gold, silver, tin, antimony, manganese, nickel, lead, mercury and other non-metallic ores such as coal, phosphorus, mica, gypsum, asbestos, crystals, borax, staghorn, peat, silica, fire-resistant sand and gravel; it abounds in crops such as maize, rice, wheat, buckwheat, oats, potatoes and so on; it produces marijuana, oilseed rape, tobacco, peanuts, cotton and tea and other Cash crops; Yunnan pine, Huashan pine, fir, spruce, hemlock, birch, camphor, nanmu and other timber; tung oil, lacquer, oil tea, ramie, chestnut, oranges, peaches, pears, and other economic forests; Cordyceps sinensis, mother-of-pearl, panax notoginseng, asparagus, woodruff, codonopsis, Poria, snow lotus and other medicinal herbs; cattle, horses, goats, pigs, and other livestock; and the flying foxes, golden monkeys, pandas, gray bamboo rats, white horse chickens, white-bellied marmosets and other rare and exotic animals. Exotic animals. The Yi people have been laboring and living on this piece of land for generations, creating a splendid Yi culture.