Population: 1,253,952
Distribution: Xinping, Zhenyuan, Mojiang, Yuanjiang, Honghe and other counties in the area between the Mourning Mountains and Mengle Mountains in southwest Yunnan.
The Hani people have their own language and three dialects, which are so different from each other that they cannot talk to each other. In the past, there was no writing system, and it was not until 1957 that a phonetic script based on the Latin alphabet was created. Most of the villages are built in the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas at an altitude of 1,000 meters to 2,500 meters above sea level. The dwellings are usually adobe buildings with earthen walls and wood, and the roofs have several kinds of flat, double-pitched and four-pitched roofs.
The Hani people are mainly engaged in agriculture, but also good at growing tea. The Hani people have a long history of growing tea, and the production of tea in the Hani area accounts for one-third of the output of the whole province of Yunnan.
Customs
The Hani used to believe that fire was the life of the family, and were in awe of fire, which had to be protected for a long time. Each family had several different fire pits. The fire of the fire not only must be smoldering, but the usefulness of each fire should not be confused.
The Hani people have *** enjoy the habit of hunting, when the hunters into the mountains to return, no matter how many hunters, the whole cottage can come to the division of the prey, each family can share a share. If the prey is too little, just cook it and share it with everyone.
The Hani people have many taboos, such as maternity, avoiding outsiders to break into the room; into the village can not be draped in clothes; can not use the tripod on the fire to dry shoes; prohibited felling the "Dragon Tree" and will be thrown under the "Dragon Tree" and so on the filth.
The Hani people have always been hospitable, as long as there are guests to come, are to be treated with wine. After the guests are seated, the host should first honor a bowl of rice wine, three large pieces of meat, called "drink stew pot wine. During the feast, they often sing and drink. When the guests leave, but also to send a large piece of poi and a package of banana leaves wrapped in cured meat, crispy meat, tofu rounds and other food.
Marriage
The Hani people attach great importance to the celebration of the marriage of men and women. Often pairing on the feast way to choose lovers, generally in the pairing on the feast before the male side in the female side of the promise, by the young man to raise money, please cook the master chef, kill the rooster, boiled fat, stir-fried vegetables, playing wine, soak glutinous rice for preparation. At night around 10 o'clock to start the feast, the participants about 10-30 people, onlookers bustling. The lights are brightly lit and the table is filled with various kinds of dishes. First, a boiled rooster is placed on the table, head up, and two chicken testicles and a live crab are hung on the rooster, with the "head boy" and "head girl" seated from the chief, and the rest of the men and women seated in pairs in turn, followed by toasts and songs, and then dispersed only when the fun is over. At this time, the young men wrapped glutinous rice and vegetables in banana leaves and gave them to the girls to eat on the way home. If men and women are in love with each other, they can agree on a time for the next meeting. The locals call this courtship "Abado" and it is often held during the farming season.
Food
The Hani people used to eat two meals a day, the staple food is locally produced rice, corn as a supplement. They like to steam the rice and corn into rice poop, rice thread, rolled noodles and pea cold noodles. Hani people living in Xishuangbanna like to lean meat chopped fine, with rice, ginger, anise noodles, grass fruit noodles with congee, and this staple of the top.
Regardless of the usual or festivals every meal is essential tempeh. They are good at using local local specialty ingredients to make pickles, cook meats and various flavorful dishes. For example, baiwang is made from coagulated livestock and poultry blood clots mixed with fried peanuts, mint, ginger and garlic, skunk cabbage roots, salt, chili peppers, and raw meat.
Drinking tea and wine is a hobby of the Hani people, and the wine they drink is mostly home-brewed sweet white wine, which is mellow and sweet; the Hani people drink fresh tea, which has a bitter and astringent flavor, but it can quench the heat and quench the thirst.
Typical food: the Hani ethnic area is rich in produce, unique cooking methods, with the national flavor characteristics of the typical food. Such as bamboo tube chicken, raw fried bamboo worms, etc., more famous flavor dishes and bee pupa sauce, storm pickled plantain heart, pickled bamboo shoots fried suede meat, meat floss sauce, clear soup olive fish, crab stewed egg white, boiled snake round and so on.
Festivals
Like the Han Chinese, they also celebrate the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The main traditional festivals are "Nianshou Zalet" (October), "Eat Zaza" (May Festival), and June Festival. In addition, there are two small festivals, the "Rice Planting Festival" (also known as the "Yellow Rice Festival") and the New Tasting Festival. The traditional Hani calendar divides the year into three seasons: the cold season, the warm season and the rainy season, each of which lasts four months. It is customary to have two annual festivals in a year. One is the October year and the other is the June year.
October is celebrated on the first Dragon Day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar and lasts for five to six days, when the gods and ancestors are sacrificed. At that time, every family has to kill a red rooster and cook it on the spot, not to be taken indoors, and every member of the family has to eat a piece of chicken, while a girl who is ready to get married is not allowed to eat it. Afterwards, three rice balls and some cooked meat are made and offered to the oldest person of the same clan. A grand street feast is held in the village, which means that nearly 100 tables are linked together every day, with each family competing to offer their best dishes to show off their cooking skills.
The June Festival is held in the month of June on a date chosen by the priests, and focuses on sacrifices to the gods of heaven and grain. Chickens and goats are slaughtered and a feast is held. When building an autumn house for the god of heaven, a cow is slaughtered in front of the entrance to offer sacrifices to the god, and after the sacrifice, the beef is divided per capita to enjoy the gift of the god.