Brief introduction of Naxi nationality

Brief introduction of Naxi nationality

Brief introduction of Naxi nationality

Naxi people mainly live in Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, and the rest are distributed in Weixi, Zhongdian, Ninglang, Deqin, Yanbian, Yanyuan, Muli and Zhikang counties in Sichuan Province. Naxi nationality was originally a branch of Qiang nationality in northwest China in ancient times, and migrated to Lijiang in the third century BC.

Naxi people speak Naxi language, which belongs to Yi branch of Tibeto-Burman language family of Sino-Tibetan language family, and is divided into East and West dialects. With the Jinsha River as the boundary, there are about 200,000 people in the west, and the interior can communicate with each other. East China is divided into three parts, each with its own dialect, and it is difficult to communicate with each other.

As early as 1000 years ago, Naxi people created ancient primitive hieroglyphs-Dongba and Goba, which are one syllable characters and are rare folk hieroglyphs still circulating in the world. The classic written in this language is called Dongba Sutra. There are about 9,000 copies in China and about 1. 1 1,000 copies in other countries in the world. 1957 designed a phonetic symbol scheme based on Latin letters, which is now widely used in Chinese.

Naxi people are mainly engaged in agricultural production, planting rice, corn, potatoes, wheat, beans, cotton and hemp. The banks of Jinsha River are forest areas; There are many kinds of plants in Yulong mountain area, which is known as the treasure house of plants. Handicraft industry has also developed, and Lijiang Horse is famous all over the country. Now there are small and medium-sized enterprises such as machine maintenance, coal mining, power generation, fertilizer, motor and light industry. There are many kinds of medicinal materials and specialties produced on both sides of Jinsha River.

Naxi history

Naxi nationality is an ancient nationality in China, and it is a branch of the migration of ancient Qiang people to the south. The name of Naxi nationality comes from the name of a tribe of ancient Timur people. Their ancestors called "desert sand" and "desert sand" in Historical Records of Jin Dynasty, which means "cattle herder". They first moved south to the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, then southwest to the Yalong River basin, and then westward to the upper reaches of the Jinsha River. In the Tang Dynasty, they gathered in Lijiang and Yongning, and were ruled by Tubo (Tibetan) and Nanzhao (ancestors of Yi and Bai) successively. During the Three Kingdoms period, there was already a class division within. In the early Tang Dynasty, Yueyan Imperial edict (grinding some imperial edicts) was established, which was one of the six imperial edicts and was later destroyed by Nanzhao. Nanzhao rulers once moved thousands of millers to Kunchuan area, and these millers later merged with Bai people. In the early Ming Dynasty, many guards were also integrated into the Naxi people. From the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, some leaders were successively awarded hereditary feudal chieftain positions by the central dynasty, and their jurisdictions basically entered the development stage of feudal lords system. Especially in the early Qing Dynasty, the Naxi feudal society was further developed. After the founding of New China, it was named Naxi according to the national will. Naxi nationality has created splendid national culture in the process of its own national development. Dongba, which originated in the 7th century BC, is the only hieroglyphics still in use in the world. Dongba Sutra is a classic of Dongba religion written in Dongba language, and it is a precious material for studying the history of Naxi social development.

Naxi music

Naxi people, with a population of about 230,000, mainly live in Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County in the northwest of Yunnan Province, and the rest are distributed in Mangkang County. Naxi language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family of Sino-Tibetan language family, and they have their own characters. Naxi people believe in Dongba and Lamaism.

Narrative songs, folk songs and minor songs of Naxi nationality are widely circulated among the people, and the music is whirling.

The law is simple and the rhythm is light. Naxi people sing with a single dance movement, which reflects their joyful atmosphere of singing and dancing.

Naxi etiquette

Naxi people attach great importance to interpersonal relationships, emotional communication, adversity and * * *, and pay attention to reciprocity. Respecting the old and loving the young is the virtue of Naxi nationality. Old people have a high position in the family and are respected. In case of natural and man-made disasters, weddings, funerals and celebrations, relatives, friends and villagers will take the initiative to help, regardless of remuneration. Hospitality is the traditional virtue of Naxi nationality. Every time they come back from hunting, all pedestrians in Lu will get a share of their prey. When guests come to the door, the host will cook six or eight dishes to entertain them. If there are guests in the village or at home, men, women and children will get up to say hello and give up their seats enthusiastically. At home, young people should take care of the diet and sleep of the elderly first, and provide them with water for washing their faces and feet. This virtue has been passed down from generation to generation in You Ran.

Naxi people celebrate this festival.

Naxi people use the lunar calendar to mark the year. The main festivals are the Dragon King Temple Fair in March, the Milla Fair on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and the Lijiang July Fair held in the middle of July in the summer calendar, also known as the July Mule and Horse Fair. Wait a minute. Many festivals, such as Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, are almost the same as the local Han festivals. The Spring Festival is the biggest traditional festival, accompanied by many sacrificial activities.

Besides Chinese New Year, Naxi people have many sacrificial activities. The most grand ceremony is "Naxi Sacrifice to Heaven", which is usually held in the first month or the middle of the first month. At that time, it is necessary to choose a sacrifice site. Dongba Church teaches people to be priests and slaughter the pigs in turn. Every household should donate barley and wheat to make wine and bait. When offering sacrifices, all the animals are sacrificed, and all the people present should wash their hands and stand at attention with incense. After the sacrifice, use pig blood enema, pig's head and viscera to cook soup, and then eat it according to households. Three days after the big sacrifice, every family will have a small sacrifice. There is also "Sacrificing Three Flowers (Land Lord)". Naxi people believe that three flowers belong to sheep. Every year on February 8th and August, the sheep festival, the whole sheep are sacrificed, and the Naxi people in Lijiang area take hot pot to have a picnic in a scenic place.

On July 25th of the lunar calendar, Mosuo people held an activity to worship Goddess Mountain, which was a mass festival with primitive religious color. On this day, people dressed in costumes gather at the foot of Lion Mountain to burn incense, lamas recite Buddhist scriptures, and people offer wine, meat and fruit to the goddess and kowtow.

On the eighth day of February, Beiyue Temple Fair is called "Sacrificing Three Flowers" in Naxi language, and it is also a traditional festival for Naxi people to sacrifice "Three Flowers" to their national protector or god of war. Beiyue Temple is named Nanzhao Beiyue because of Yulong Mountain, and there are three temples at the foot of Yulong Mountain. According to legend, in ancient times, a hunter found a strange snow stone on Yulong Mountain and took it home. When he arrived at the ruins of the present temple, the snow stone was very heavy, and he had a rest. If you want to recite it again, snow and stones can't be moved. People think that this is the incarnation of God, and a temple is built on the spot to offer sacrifices. Since then, people have often seen a god wearing white armor, wearing a white helmet, holding a white spear and riding a white horse, and often showing his soul to protect Shangdi and the people here. Naxi people believe that Sanhua is the largest and most authoritative god of the nation and belongs to sheep. The eighth day of February and August is sheep day every year, and the whole sheep should be taken as a grand commemoration. During the temple fair, it is the season when camellia is in full bloom, and there will be a sea of people. Fireworks filled the air, flowers bloomed everywhere, people scattered for picnics and believers burned incense and kowtowed. The solemnity and atmosphere of this temple fair are among the best in all temple fairs and festivals in Lijiang.

Marriage custom of Naxi nationality

The Naxi people in Yongning call themselves Mosuo people. To this day, they still retain the matriarchal tradition in marriage and family. In the typical Mosuo family structure in the past, only the mother's blood relatives-grandmother and her brothers and sisters, mother and her brothers and sisters, mother's biological children and mother's sisters' biological children were considered outsiders. In family life, women have a prominent position, and their parents are women with high elders. She is also the host of religious sacrifice activities at home. The lineage of a family is calculated according to the maternal lineage, and the property is also inherited according to the maternal principle.

The marriage system adapted to this matriarchal family is usually called "A-note" marriage. "A note" means "friend" and "partner". The main characteristics of this kind of marriage are: men don't marry and women don't marry. Young men and women of different maternal lineages can choose their sweetheart according to their own preferences and wishes. As long as we are happy with each other, we will give each other bracelets, belts and other gifts and start living together. Because they live and give birth in two families, the man must visit his mother's house after nightfall and return to his mother's house in a hurry the next morning. Children born together take their mother's surname and are raised by their mother's family. Men have no rights and obligations to their children. Because this kind of marriage and family are not necessarily related in economic and other aspects, it is very free for men and women to divorce. As long as the woman refuses to visit or the man stops visiting, "Azhu" marriage will come to an end.

Naxizu clothing

The Naxi nationality is deeply influenced by the Han nationality. Men's wear is basically the same as that of the Han nationality, wearing robes, jackets or double-breasted tops and trousers. Women's wear, except for the custom of wearing skirts in some places, has been changed to wearing pants], but the whole suit. It still has distinctive national characteristics. Lijiang women wear large embroidered robes, which are wide in waist, knee-high in front and shin in back, plus waistcoats, trousers, pleated waist and boat-shaped embroidered shoes. The clothes are mostly blue, white and black, and the collar, sleeves and lapels are embroidered with lace, which is simple and generous. Married women wear a bun and a round gauze hat on their heads, while unmarried women wear a cloth headscarf or a small black velvet hat with their hair braided at the back of their heads.

The most distinctive feature of Naxi women's dress is the seven-star sheepskin shawl on the back, on which seven embroidered circular cloth circles with a straight warp of about two inches are arranged side by side, and each cloth circle has a pair of hanging nails. There are many different versions about the origin of this kind of clothing. More commonly, it stands for Seven Stars, which means "Dai Xing Dai Yue". It is said that the circle of cloth is embroidered with fine star maps with silk thread, and the hanging spikes represent the light of stars. Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a hardworking, capable, intelligent and beautiful Naxi girl named Ying Gu who struggled with drought demons for nine days and died of exhaustion. In recognition of Yinggu's brave behavior, Baisha Sanduo made seven round stars from seven cold suns swallowed by Xue Jinglong and put them on Yinggu's coat. Later, Naxi girls imitated the English aunt and nailed the seven-star pattern on the shawl, symbolizing hard work and courage. There is also a saying that the Naxi people have regarded frogs as a god of wisdom since ancient times, which can solve people's difficulties. Therefore, those circular patterns represent frog's eyes and are historical relics of frog totem worship.

Naxi diet

Naxi people eat three meals a day. Generally, we eat steamed bread or boiled Baba for breakfast, while Chinese food and dinner are more abundant. Generally, there are one or two kinds of cooking, pickles, soup and so on. Especially beef soup pot and dry bar. There are many kinds of vegetables in Pingba and mountainous areas, and they should be on the market at four o'clock. Potatoes, cucumbers and melon beans are widely planted in mountainous areas, and various famous dishes with local characteristics are made. Such as: steamed Cordyceps duck, shellfish hen, Tianma chicken, etc. Among them, the traditional dish of Naxi nationality "Fermented Tricholoma matsutake" is a special dish made of Tricholoma matsutake cover, filled with minced meat and steamed as a sacrifice, especially for ancestors to eat.

In ancient times, Naxi people used beef and mutton. Beef, wheat, dried barnyard grass and roots (tendrils) are staple foods. Later, under the influence of Han and Bai nationalities, agriculture developed rapidly, and some changes took place in living customs. In Lijiang dam area, corn, wheat and rice are the staple foods, while barley and beans are eaten in mountainous areas. Lugu Lake. In the middle of the year, Yanyuan and Muli Naxi people took barnyard grass, kenke and corn as their staple foods, supplemented by adopted sons, rice, wheat and beans. Villagers in Lijiang dam area grow vegetables at the back of the front house and eat by themselves. Pork is mostly made into bacon, especially Pipa pigs in Lijiang and Yongning, which can be preserved for several years to more than ten years without deterioration. Take Baba or Baba Temple with you when you go out to work. Sit around the table when eating, and like to move to a sunny place to eat in winter.

Hard-working and thrifty Naxi people like to drink, drink strong tea and eat sour, spicy and sweet food. Mosuo people in Lugu Lake, both men and women, like to smoke an unformed "orchid smoke" and eat homemade "Linglima wine" with sour taste. Housewives cook bacon every year after killing pigs. Ham Baba in Lijiang, Pipa meat in Ningbo, sour fish and dried fish in lakes and valleys are all delicious, which are the best products for Naxi people to entertain guests or give gifts to relatives and friends.

Typical foods include: Lijiang ham Baba, linen, Saussurea involucrata, Lichun copper hotpot, Lijiang barbecue Baba and so on.

Naxi architecture

Naxi architecture is simple and elegant, and Sifang Street in Old Town of Lijiang is the most representative. The whole building complex is a tile house with civil structure. The doors, windows and archways on the building are exquisitely carved patterns with rich themes, vivid lines and vivid images, which show the artistic attainments and aesthetic tastes of the Naxi people.

Old Town of Lijiang has the reputation of "Venice of the East". On the other hand, the wooden shack of Mosuo people along Lugu Lake is a whole log piled into a wall, and the wood blocks are split into boards to make tiles. The whole house does not need a nail or a brick, which is not only warm in winter and cool in summer, but also particularly earthquake-resistant. Siheyuan directly reflects its marriage form, family organization and religious belief, and is a form carrier of matriarchal society.

Naxi custom

Naxi people are enthusiastic and open-minded. It has the traditional virtues of knowing the book and being polite, respecting the old and loving the young. Don't talk loudly and swear in public places. Before riding a horse to the village, you must dismount, and you can't tie the horse to the place where you worship heaven. Don't step on a tripod, don't cross your legs; When you enter Naxi's house, you can't beat the dog of the host family, you can't take the initiative to enter the bedroom of the "flower house" of the elderly, women and girls, you can't ask about "xia", and you can't turn over ashes in the kitchen. When offering sacrifices to heaven, ancestors and the god of war, outsiders are forbidden to watch. Never sit on the threshold and cut things on the threshold with a knife and axe. ; Some places also avoid singing folk songs and whistling at home; Avoid knocking on bowls and chopsticks, turning vegetables, or picking vegetables continuously when eating; It is forbidden to pollute water sources, cut down water source forests and kill small animals that enter the home. Xu killed cows, donkeys and cocks at dawn; Avoid dog meat.

Naxi Nationality Religion

Naxi people generally believe in Dongba, and some people believe in Lamaism.

"Dongba" is Naxi language, which means "wise man", that is, wizard and priest. Dongba culture cannot be separated from Dongba religion. Dongba religion was formed in the early Tang Dynasty, when Naxi people absorbed Tibetan culture on the basis of primitive witchcraft. Dongba is versatile, combining writing, painting, singing and dancing, so they become the creators, disseminators and inheritors of the ancient Dongba culture of Naxi nationality.

Naxi people generally believe in Dongba religion (Yongning is also called "Daba"), which is a primitive witchcraft influenced by Tibetan Zoroastrianism (black religion). Natural phenomena such as polytheism and mountains and rivers are regarded as gods, while non-sick dead and enemies are regarded as evil spirits. If you are sick, have a wedding, funeral or celebration, please ask Dongba to chant Buddhist scripture. Dongba has no temples, and all of them are full-time farmers. Naxi area is also the intersection of Buddhism (Zen) and Lamaism (Tantric). The Red Lamaism Temple spread from Tibetan areas to Lijiang, and the Mountain Monk Temple spread from the mainland to Lijiang. Therefore, Naxi people also believe in Buddhism, Lamaism and Taoism, forming a multi-religious nation.

Dongba religion is an ancient religion believed by all Naxi people and originated from primitive religion. Its basic content is ancestor worship, ghost worship and nature worship, and its main manifestations are worship to heaven, funeral ceremony, exorcism, disaster prevention and divination.

Dongba religion has special instruments and costumes, and the ceremony is very complicated. Almost every month throughout the year, there are sacrificial activities of different sizes, which are mainly divided into five categories: sacrifice, funeral, disaster, divination and naming, among which worship to heaven is the most grand.