On the characteristics of Ordos folk songs praising horses

Skin color is diverse. Different gestures. Good character.

Mongolians have an indissoluble bond with horses, and horses have participated in Mongolian life and emotional fields. Horse is the means of production, the companion of life, and the object of decoration, description and praise by Mongolians. For Mongolian nomadic society and its historical development, the important role of horses is irreplaceable.

Ma Zheng is talking about the politics of horse breeding, including horse domestication, grazing, feeding, use and market management, as well as related systems and laws. According to historical records, the Mongolian horse industry was quite developed from the end of 12 to the beginning of 13. After the establishment of the Yuan government, Mongolians improved the management system and feeding protection measures of the horse industry. Since then, there have been institutions, regulations, taxes and so on to manage horses.

Horses are the main exchange products of Mongolian trade. The daily necessities used in Mongolian life are mainly obtained through the exchange between the horse market and the mainland. Therefore, in the Yuan Dynasty, there were fairs in Tianshan County, Shajing County and Jining County. At that time, Shangdu was a famous commercial city on the grassland. Businessmen from the Central Plains, Central Asia and Europe gathered here to exchange metal utensils and daily necessities for livestock and animal products.

In Mongolian sacrificial activities, horses are often regarded as important sacrifices. Every time the Mongols worship Aobao, the gods of mountains and rivers and ancestors, they have to sacrifice horses. For example, in the activities of offering sacrifices to Genghis Khan, a Huang Ma must be chosen as a sacrifice to show his respect. Mongolians also often use horses for divination, and often judge the year and apologize according to the shape of the liver of the killed horse. In addition, Mongolians often use horse hair, ponytail and horse teeth to predict the future.

Shenma, known as "Wengzhou" horse in Mongolian, refers to Tianma. People regard Weng Mazhou as a god and have a special pasture for it. No one or animal can offend it. No riding, no slavery, no taming, no trading, no flogging, no cursing, no forwarding. When it is aging, it must be authorized by the government to find a substitute. Mongolians believe that God horse is given by heaven, and God sends God to manage cattle. With god horse management, the herd can be peaceful.

Literature and art always reflect and copy reality. Praise for horses is one of the important contents of Mongolian congratulations. Whenever Nadam holds a horse race, people will praise the winning horse. Many praises of horses are made by improvisation, and there is no strict and fixed format and words. On other occasions, it is inevitable to hold a ceremony to praise the horse. Praise ceremonies should be held for the horses that Mongolian young men and women rode when they got married, for the horses that VIPs attended various parties, for the horses that were led by guests, for the pole horses that they rode when they harnessed horses, and for the newly born foals.

In the vast and colorful Mongolian folk literature, horses are vividly described, and horses have extraordinary wisdom and divine power. The horse treads on the earth, and the dust is flying, and its power is unstoppable. The images of horses in Mongolian epics are all magical. They can fly, change, talk, advise heroes, predict prophets and help heroes, all of which show their divinity. In a sense, the hero and the horse become an interdependent and complete unity. The harmony between man and horse even goes beyond the relationship between people.

Among Mongolian proverbs about livestock, the number of proverbs about horses is the largest, and the content reflected is extensive and profound. There is a Mongolian proverb that "Mongolians don't have horses, just as they don't have hands and feet." "A good horse starts with a pony, and a good man starts with a teenager."

In the long-term production and life, Mongolian people are particularly fond of horses, have a deep understanding of their habits, character and value, and have created many words to express horses and chariots. There are many words about the age, sex, voice and movements of horses in Mongolian. There are many names of animals and plants, insects and celestial bodies in Mongolian vocabulary, all of which are related to horses. In fact, the vocabulary related to horses is higher than other animals in richness, frequency of use and language permeability.

Mongolian people can sing and dance well, and Mongolian folk songs are rich and colorful. Among them, there are thousands of folk songs related to horses. Through folk songs, they praise the advantages of horses, their colors, their close relationship with people, describe their speed and posture, and thank them for their kindness to Mongols. Mongolian music also shows a deep love for horses. Ma Touqin is regarded as a symbol of Mongolian music. The head of the piano is marked by a horse, the body of the piano is wrapped in horse skin, and the bowstring is made of horsehair and ponytail. Ma Touqin can play the hiss, hum, sigh, lament and other sounds of horses. Many movements in Mongolian dance are derived from or related to horses. The "horse-riding dance" and "horse-sacrificing dance", which are very popular in Mongolian areas, adopt "looking up with horse stance just look". Dancers imitate various postures and movements of horses. Leg movements include prancing, rolling left and right, pulling the horse back, turning over and so on. , and the movement is light and slow, or galloping.