Yi culture

In the long-term historical development, the Yi people not only created their own ancient characters, but also created a profound and unique traditional culture of the Yi people. Yi ancient books are an important part of Yi traditional culture.

The ancient books of Yi nationality are vast and profound, involving Yi history, primitive religion, folk customs, literature and art, astronomy and geography, philosophy, ethics, genealogy, medicine, calendar and so on. The work of Yi ancient books in Eshan County began at 1984, which is one of the earliest counties in Yuxi City and even Yunnan Province. Collected more than 70 ancient Yi books with more than 750,000 words in the county.

Most of the ancient Yi language books in Eshan were written in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and were copied and preserved in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Yi ancient books are mainly composed of five-character poems and songs, and there are also seven-character poems and songs and prose formats. The writing format is mostly vertical from right to left. Most of the papers written in Yi ancient books are ancient cotton paper and silk paper, and a few are written on other papers.

In the content classification, there are history, sacrifice, literature, calendar, genealogy and so on.

History: Representative works include Flood, Guide, Five Teas, Eight Teas, etc. Five Teas and Eight Teas, also known as Palace Books and Wooden Books, are the oldest literature books of the Yi people, which describe the formation of everything in the world and the origin of mankind. "The Flood" tells the story that Updumu, the ancestor revered by the Yi people, survived in the flood, leaving only one person, and then combined with the three immortals to thrive. The Guide Book records the birthplaces and migration routes of the ancestors of the Yi people in various places, and is recited in the funeral and sacrifice activities of the Yi people, with the aim of guiding the dead souls of the elderly to return to the birthplace of their ancestors.

Sacrifice: Yi sacrificial classics can be divided into funeral sacrificial classics and other sacrificial activities. The classic of funeral sacrifice is a scripture read by Yi people in funeral sacrifice activities, which runs through the whole process of funeral sacrifice activities. The main scriptures are Sacrificial Sutra, Sacrificial Sutra, Sacrificial Sutra, Ashuohei, Night Banquet Sutra, Ji Mantra Sutra, White Sutra, Stepping on the Sharp Knife and Grass Sutra, etc. The classics of other sacrificial activities are recited in sacrificial activities other than funeral activities, such as "evoking spirits" to bring the spirits of six animals and human beings home, "seeking gods and nerves" to worship the gods of heaven and earth, "exorcising ghosts and evil spirits" to worship the gods of heaven and earth, and "sacrificing mountain nerves" to worship mountain gods.

Literature: Fairy Zhang Sijie tells about the fairy Zhang Sijie, The Story of Aji and Azhuo tells about Ni Jie Aji and Ou Yin Azhuo of the ancient Yi people, and Love Song of Ali praises the love between men and women.

Calendar category: thirty-six books signed, seventy-two books signed, accounting for fate, accounting for girls' appearance, accounting for girls' portrait books and marrying a wife to read sun books, accounting for etiology, astrological books, and so on.

Genealogy: Genealogy is a classic that faithfully records the history of clan reproduction and development. The Yi genealogy discovered and collected in Eshan County includes the stone genealogy of Yuhu Village in Chahe Township, the stone genealogy of Fuliangpeng Village, the Li genealogy of Dazhai Village, the land genealogy of Dazhai Village in Tadian Town and the dragon genealogy of Shuangjiangchang Village. Genealogy of Yi people is generally divided into three parts: preface, abstract and text. The preface records the time when the family tree was established. Summarize the names of Yi ancestors from Yideyi to Chayidu in prehistoric times, and record their surnames in the text. The genealogy of Yi nationality has important reference value for investigating the historical origin, reproduction, development and distribution of different surnames of Yi nationality.

Eshan county is actively engaged in the translation and collation of Yi ancient books while conducting the general survey and collection of Yi ancient books. The ancient Yi books "Flood" and "Guiding Classic" translated by Li Chunfu and Zhao Guanghan were incorporated into the Yunnan Ancient Books Office's Yunnan Ancient Books Series "Flood History" and "Guiding Series", which were published in 1987 and 1988 respectively. From 65438 to 0989, Yuxi Ethnic Affairs Committee edited and published the first four-line Yi ancient books series "Nizu Genealogy", which was written in ancient Yi language, international phonetic alphabet, literal translation and free translation. Li Chunfu and Zhao Guanghan translated and edited the book "White", while Li Chunfu and Li Zenghua translated and edited the book "Sohei" and published the series "Nizu Genealogy".

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