Dai cultural history

Li Dai people have more than 1000 years of old Dai language and ancient Bayleaf Scriptures. Dai people have their own unique calendar. The difference between Dai calendar and Gregorian calendar is 638 years, that is, Gregorian calendar is 639 years as the first year of Dai calendar. The year of Dai calendar is solar year, but the month is lunar month. Dai calendar is divided into three seasons, from 1 month to April as the cold season, from May to August as the hot season, and from September to1February as the rainy season. September is a leap month every three years, and this calendar is still widely used in Thailand and Myanmar. The development of Dai literature can be roughly divided into four stages: one is the period when ancient ballads, myths and creation epics came into being and developed; The second period is the formation and prosperity of heroic epics, legends and ballads; Third, the rise and prosperity of stories and narrative poems; Fourth, the new literature flourished. The famous "Dai Ancient Songs" collected 30 Dai ancient songs, which reflected the production activities and living conditions of Dai ancestors in primitive times. There are myths about the origin of heaven and earth, such as "Should Open Heaven in Eight Days", "Ancient Lotus" and "Gapa in Mei Fei". Myths about human origin include "gourd man", "gourd lays eggs", "human fruit" and "dirty clay man", flood myth includes "gourd seed" and totem myth includes "bird girl". Epics include Patamagaro, Changed Zagongpa (Guhe), Mudu and The Origin of Everything in the World. The heroic epic is Li Feng. Ballads are mainly love songs, folk songs, labor songs and children's songs. Dai people love poetry very much, especially long narrative poems. The introduction of Buddhism and the creation of Dai language laid the foundation for the prosperity of narrative poetry. Dai folk artists accept, translate and spread foreign Buddhist literature, and at the same time absorb Dai folk stories and create a large number of long folk narrative poems. According to textual research, there are as many as 550 narrative poems by Ayi (that is, the practice story of Buddha reincarnation with the origin of Buddha as the core content). Generally speaking, the common narrative poems of Dai people include Golden Frog, Pocket, Big Leaves, Golden Antelope, Sweet Valley, Sour Fish, Eyes of Twelve Princes, etc. Dai drama

Dai Opera is one of the unique minority operas in Yunnan, which is popular in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, counties and cities in Dehong Prefecture and some Dai communities in Baoshan. Dai drama originated from dance performances and Buddhist scriptures with certain characters, and absorbed the artistic nutrition of Yunnan opera and shadow play. At the same time, Dai drama spread from Tusi yamen to the people, and a large number of folk Dai drama performance organizations appeared. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Dai drama has made new development. 1960 established the first professional performance group-Luxi Dai Troupe, 1962 expanded to Dehong Dai Troupe. 1962, He E and luo sang participated in the drama performance of southwest ethnic minorities, which caused a sensation and was known as the "Pearl of Southeast Asia". Except for professional groups such as Dai Opera Troupe in Dehong Prefecture, almost all the larger Dai villages have amateur performance teams. At present, Dai dramas are basically enjoyed by the elderly, but young people are not interested because they don't understand them. The difficulties in the inheritance of Dai opera are increasingly prominent [1]. The tunes of Dai folk songs are flexible, beautiful and lyrical. Dehong folk songs have a distinctive accent, Xishuangbanna folk songs have more sliding decorative sounds, and Ruili folk songs are lively and hearty, with their own characteristics. There are many kinds of dances, and the movements and contents mainly simulate the activities of local common animals, and on this basis, they are personalized. Peacock dance not only comes from imitating the graceful movements of peacocks, but also from the beautiful and moving legends of Dai people. The famous dancer Dao Meilan is famous at home and abroad for her performance in peacock dance. A famous dancer in the festival-Dao Meilan (Dai)

Water-splashing Festival (Dai calendar New Year) is the most national festival of Dai people. This festival is in June of the Dai calendar, which is equivalent to April of the Gregorian calendar. At the Water-Splashing Festival, people will worship Buddha. The girls will wash the dust for the Buddha with fresh water floating with flowers, then splash water on each other and bless each other. At first, water was splashed with hands and bowls, and then songs were splashed with pots and barrels. The more intense the splashing, the drums, gongs, water splashing and cheers became one. During the Songkran Festival, traditional entertainment activities such as dragon boat racing, flying high and flying lanterns and various song and dance parties will be held. Most of them are related to Buddhism. The bamboo building where Dai people live is a dry-column building. The bamboo building is approximately square, supported by dozens of large bamboos, and the floor is suspended; The roof is covered with thatched rows, and the bamboo wall has a large gap, which is both ventilated and light-permeable. The slope on both sides of the roof is very large, showing an A-shape. The bamboo building is divided into two floors, where people live upstairs, livestock are raised downstairs and sundries are piled up. It's also a place for rice and weaving. Clothing Dai men generally wear collarless double-breasted sleeves and long-sleeved trousers wrapped in white or blue cloth. Dai women's costumes vary greatly from place to place, but they are basically characterized by bunches of hair, skirts and shirts. The skirt is ankle-deep, the clothes are tight and short, the hem only reaches the waist, but the sleeves are long and narrow. Dietary Dai people take rice as their staple food and love glutinous rice. The most distinctive thing is bamboo rice. The production method is to put fresh glutinous rice in a bamboo tube, add water, put it on the corn husk and barbecue it on the fire. It tastes delicious and fragrant. Dai people also have many special barbecues. Dai people's cold dishes are also delicious, such as dried pork, steamed fish and so on. They are delicious. Pu 'er tea is a specialty of Yunnan Pu 'er tea, which was exported to all parts of China in the Tang Dynasty, Southeast Asia and South Asia in the Qing Dynasty, and now it has entered the Japanese and Western European markets and become a famous tea at home and abroad. Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture is very rich in special products, including 1 10 kinds of fruits alone. There are many kinds of animals and plants here, which are called "plant kingdom" and "animal kingdom". 199 1 year, Xishuangbanna national nature reserve was officially opened to the outside world, and people can visit the treasure house of nature and enjoy the rich subtropical customs. There are also many Dai snacks. If there is a kind of Ciba, it is a round cake made of glutinous rice and sugar stuffing, and it is wrapped with banana leaves coated with wax oil. It can be baked with fire or fried with honey. Shredding is to stir rice flour into granules with water, steam it, then mash it into balls, roll it into thin and big round cakes, cool it and stack it. When eating, blanch it in a bowl and sprinkle with various seasonings. Water-splashing Ciba is made of glutinous rice flour, steamed with brown sugar, wrapped with a layer of fried bean flour, and then wrapped with banana leaves as a reward. There is also a crispy rice made of fried glutinous rice paste. Xiangmaocao grilled fish

Grilled fish with citronella is a A Dai-style dish. Generally, the washed fish is wrapped in citronella first, then barbecued on the fire and smeared with appropriate lard. When grilled, the aroma is overflowing, which makes the grilled fish crispy and delicious.