What folk activities do Miao people have?

What are the folk activities of the Miao people?

Miao customs include production customs, life customs, seasonal customs, marriage customs, birth customs, funeral customs and so on. In fact, the customs and habits of Miao nationality are intangible cultural heritage with material culture as the carrier and attached to material culture, some of which are embodied as materialized culture and some are embodied as non-materialized cultural phenomena.

I. Production Customs

Agricultural planting is the most important production industry for Miao people to provide material means of subsistence in China, which embodies the essence of Miao rice culture. Among the agricultural production customs of Miao nationality, the main agricultural production customs are "living road head" system, "sealing soil and breaking ground" system, "opening and closing seedling door" system and sacrifice system.

The system of "living road head" is one of the agricultural civilizations created by the Miao people in the long history of development, which was widely implemented before the 1970s. The "stove head" is the natural leader in the village who undertakes the task of directing and arranging farm work production. Generally speaking, they are experienced male farmers who are proficient in farm work technology, understand seasonal climate. The "living road head" is voluntary, and there are two kinds: hereditary and public recommendation. With the development of society and the progress of science and technology, the Miao nationality's "living road head" system only leaves vague memories in the minds of middle-aged people.

The system of "breaking soil" and "sealing soil" is also an important farming system of Miao nationality. "Breaking ground" is a ceremony presided over by "stove head" at the beginning of spring ploughing, which is usually held in the natural village on the first "Mao" day or "Chen" day after the Spring Festival. After "breaking ground", it was forbidden to play lusheng in the village until "eating new things". "Closing the soil" refers to a year's cultivation and harvest? After the ceremony, it is usually held on the twelfth day after the Year of Miao. On that day, the sacrificial ceremony of the "stove head" came to the field where the "ground breaking" ceremony was held, and the soil was sealed for sacrifice with a specific ceremony. Since then, no one in the village has been able to work in the fields. Since the 1950s, this custom has basically disappeared. Miao people's "land closure" is generally limited to paddy fields, and dry land can still be cultivated during the "land closure" period.

"Opening the seedling gate" and "closing the seedling gate" are the main folk customs of Miao agricultural planting and production. "Opening the seedling door" is an important ceremony for transplanting seedling rice, which is usually held on the third "Mao" day or "Chen" day or "noon" day after sowing. No one is allowed to transplant rice seedlings in advance before the seedling door is opened. During the ceremony, every household collected leaves and wild flowers and dyed glutinous rice into "colorful glutinous rice" to celebrate. On the day of "opening the seedling door", the "stove head" first came to the field to offer sacrifices. In order to "open the seedling door", a thatch and several withered seedlings were inserted in the field head. "Closing the seedling gate" is a ceremony at the end of rice transplanting in one season, and the date is generally the third "Mao" day or "Chen" day after the "opening the seedling gate". On that day, every household wrapped zongzi, prepared the dining table, planted fields, inserted sticks wrapped in leaves of zongzi, peppers, Nitraria tangutorum, thorn buds and rice stalks, washed all kinds of planting utensils and went back to their homes to celebrate.

Second, seasonal customs.

The Spring Festival is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. Except for Leigong Mountain and Moon Mountain, most Miao people in the territory have customs such as offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, killing pigs on the 25th to 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, making rice cakes on New Year's Eve, posting Spring Festival couplets, observing the new year's eve and opening doors on the first day of the first month. On the morning of New Year's Day, a boy's family asked him to collect some firewood before and after the house, and then he entered the gate. This is called "opening the door of firewood (wealth)". On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the boy went to his relatives' house to pay a New Year call to his elders, saying "stepping on the new year", and the elders rewarded him with glutinous rice cakes, coins and other things. In Kaili Lushan, Ping Huang, Shibing and other places, the 13th day of the first month is the New Year, and the 14th day of the first month is the New Year. "Hanging the Green" is an important folk activity in spring, in which bacon, eggs, fish, glutinous rice, wine and fragrant paper are sacrificed to worship and sweep the graves of ancestors. April 8 is one of the main festivals of Miao people in summer. The main custom is to eat black glutinous rice and prohibit raising cattle. "Dragon Boat Festival" has the custom of eating zongzi, hanging mugwort leaves and hanging calamus. The Miao people in Kaili have the custom of climbing mountains, and the Miao people in Jiuzhou, Shibing, Taijiang, Jianhe, Jinping and Zhenyuan in Ping Huang have the custom of dragon boat race. "June 6th" is the main gathering day of summer customs, and Miao people have the custom of collecting medicine, drying medicine and drying books. Miao people in Danzhai Paidiao, Rongjiang Bakai, Congjiang Kadoff and other places all have the custom of collecting herbs for "medicinal bath" on that day. Miao people in Kong Qing, Danzhai, Datang and Leishan still make small medicine bags with herbs and hang them on children on June 6 to ward off evil spirits.

The custom of autumn festival mainly focuses on festivals such as July and a half, Mid-Autumn Festival in August and Double Ninth Festival in September. In July and a half, the Miao people in Kaili, Ping Huang, Shibing, Leishan, Danzhai and Majiang have the custom of "burning steamed buns". On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Miao people in Kaili, Ping Huang, Shibing, Zhenyuan, Jinping, Leishan, Danzhai and Majiang have the custom of cooking moon rice, eating moon cakes and boiling edamame. At the turn of July or August in the lunar calendar, on the autumn night when the flowers are fragrant, young Miao men and women in Leishan, Danzhai, Taijiang, Jianhe, Kaili, Majiang and other places all have the custom of dancing "Rice Flower God" and "Seven Sisters". Young men and women get together, light a few incense sticks and burn some paper money on the moonlit night when the rice smells fragrant and the autumn wind is cool. One or several young men and women covered their faces with towels and sat on stools. Several people use a dustpan to fan the wind and put it in a lethargic state, and one or several people sing along, which is called "Rice Flower God". It is said that the human soul can ascend to heaven after being fanned by a dustpan and live in the ancestors.

What are the traditional musical instruments of Miao nationality?

Wind instruments: Lusheng, Mangguan, Night Flute, Sister Flute, Flute, Suona, etc.

String instruments: Most of them are accompaniment instruments, mainly erhu, guzheng and Qin Yue.

Percussion instruments: there are bronze drums, wooden drums and leather drums.

Lusheng is one of the ancient musical instruments especially loved by ethnic minorities, and it is an indispensable musical instrument in ethnic festivals. Lusheng is a traditional Lusheng musical instrument of Miao nationality, which is widely spread in Miao areas. Lusheng is a symbol of Miao culture. Miao Lusheng combines words, songs and dances in performance and performance, maintaining the primitive and simple history, culture and art of Miao nationality.

Mangguan is a single-reed musical instrument of Miao, Dong, Shui and Yao nationalities, also known as Tuguan, Mangguan and Lusheng. Miao language is called Hedong, which means drums and lusheng. In Dong language, it means big bamboo tube. Popular in Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan and other provinces.

Night flute, called "Liao" in Miao language, is named after playing at night and is a unique single-reed instrument of Miao nationality. Made of knotless thin bamboo tube, the length of the tube is about 50 cm, the outer diameter is about 1 1 mm, and the inner diameter is about 7 mm. The lower end of the tube is provided with four sound holes, and the upper end is a mouthpiece for vertical blowing. There is a rectangular gap in the front of the mouthpiece to clamp the reed, which is mostly made of fine bamboo or reed. The back of the suction nozzle is provided with a semi-arc notch. When playing, the air flow enters the tube from the arc gap, and the vibrating reed makes a sound. When making night flutes, due to the different lengths and diameters of bamboo used, it can be divided into three tones: high, medium and low. But because the flute tube is small, it can only be blown gently, and it can blow out two octaves.