Customs and national characteristics of Miao nationality

Miao ancestors have their own totems. Because of the wide distribution of Miao branches, they worship many totems. Such as Phoenix, Maple, Butterfly, Shenquan (Pan Hu), Dragon, Bird, Eagle, Bamboo, etc. Miao ancestors in southeastern Guizhou worshipped maple as a totem and believed that their ancestors originated from maple.

In addition, they also regard butterflies as totems and think that their ancestor Jiang Yang was born by "Mother Butterfly". Miao ancestors in the border areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou still take Pan Hu as their totem. Up to now, there are still many Pan Hu temples and Xinnugong in this area. Miao people in western Guizhou take birds as totems.

Miao people's belief in ghosts and gods has a long history, and it is still very common after the founding of New China. There are dozens of ghosts and gods they believe in. They divide ghosts into good and evil: they think that good gods can protect people, so they should always offer sacrifices, while evil spirits cooperate with people and pray for expulsion. It is believed that to achieve this goal, it is necessary to practice witchcraft through wizards.

Wizards are intermediaries between people and ghosts and gods. They have a high cultural accomplishment and are respected by the Miao people. Witchcraft practiced by wizards mainly includes divination, divination and evocation.

2. Customs and habits

Farming taboo: Miao people send manure back to the fields for the first time every year, and it is forbidden to meet outsiders. If they meet, they are forbidden to say hello. When planting seedlings, if you see fish in the Miao Di, don't say fish, or the fish will eat the roots of the seedlings. When some villages harvest millet, the ears are small and they are not harvested. If children ask, don't say "no", say "they haven't grown up yet", otherwise Xiaomi will refuse to grow again because of sadness. Don't mention mice in Tanaka, for fear of hearing them destroy crops, you can only call them "their father and son" instead. Avoid May Day. After the first month in beginning of spring, avoid breaking ground and carrying water on May Day.

Funeral taboo: In some Miao areas, male death is forbidden during the day and female death is forbidden at night. Think that the time is wrong, the deceased must be accompanied by another opposite sex. Therefore, he was unwell when he died. When he lost his family, he often asked the wizard to say a spell and then "change". At the same time, he made a palm-sized wooden coffin to be buried with him, indicating that he had a companion. Avoid putting iron, copper and other non-silver metals, cotton and tung oil in the coffin, thinking that the deceased can't buy water to drink on the way back to the east, and iron and copper will toss the deceased.

In some Miao areas, you can work in the village on the Day of the Dead, but don't go to the fields. On that day, people in the same village should avoid collecting firewood and go home, otherwise the firewood collectors will have disaster. During the suspension of classes, family members are forbidden to eat vegetables. After burial 1 month, nothing in the house may be sold or borrowed.

Extended data:

1, religious belief

Miao people have their own religious beliefs for a long time. After a long period of historical development, the religious beliefs of Miao people in different regions are different. In some Miao areas, due to traffic jams, Miao people believe in primitive religions; There are also a few Miao areas, such as Weining, Shimenkan and Yuanling in western Hunan, which converted to Catholicism and Christianity in modern times due to the influence of foreign missionaries. But on the whole, most Miao people still believe in primitive religions that have been formed for a long time, including nature worship, totem worship, ghost worship and ancestor worship.

2. Nature worship

The main natural worship objects of Miao nationality are heaven, earth, sun, moon, boulder, trees, bamboo, rocks and bridges. In Malipo, Jinping, Yunnan, whenever crops are heading, some Miao people sacrifice to "Heaven and Earth" to pray for a bumper harvest, which is the relic of Miao people's worship of Heaven and Earth.

Baidu encyclopedia-Miao nationality